Telegram could face greater EU scrutiny
Telegram could face stricter EU digital rules as Brussels probes whether the popular messaging app — whose founder faces criminal charges in France — has more users in the bloc than claimed.
The platform was thrust into the spotlight after its chief Pavel Durov was arrested in France on Saturday. He has since been released on bail but cannot leave the country.
Durov is accused of failing to curb extremist and illegal content on the increasingly controversial platform, which has over 900 million followers.
Telegram had already been in the European Union's crosshairs before the French criminal investigation. Senior EU officials have described Telegram as an «issue».
But now independently of the French probe, the European Commission is investigating whether Telegram has the minimum number of users that would require it to comply with more stringent rules.
The EU's focus is on the "social network" part of the platform, which has channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and not on one-to-one messaging between contacts, like on WhatsApp or Signal.
Since February a new law, known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), forces all platforms in the EU to protect online users from illegal and harmful content.
But platforms with at least 45 million monthly active users in the EU have even greater obligations, and they are regulated by the commission rather than national authorities.
The obligations include identifying the risks posed by the platforms and putting measures in place to mitigate them as well as
