Australia threatens Telegram for the late response to children abuse

Sydney – The online safety regulator in Australia amended Monday, Telegram Platform Monday, Telegram, about $ 1 million (640,000 USD) for its delay in answering questions about the measures that the application took to prevent abuse on children and violent extremist materials.

Intrusion This photo taken on February 13, 2025, shows the Australian Royal Navy Hmas ship, navigating near the refusal class of the Fuchi class and the Jiangi, Hengyang class, in the Great Tasman. AFP photo

The Esafty Commission, in March 2024, looked for answers from the social media platforms (googl.o), X and Facebook (Meta.o), on Telegram and Reddit and blamed them not to stop the extremists to use features of live streaming, algorithms and recommendation systems for recruiting users.

Telegram and Reddit were asked about the steps they were taking to combat sexual abuse of children in their services.

They had to answer until May, but Telegram presented the answer in October.

“Timely transparency is not a voluntary requirement in Australia, and this action strengthens the importance of all companies that respect Australian law,” said Commissioner Esafty, Julie Intman Grant, in a statement.

Telegram delay in providing information has obstructed Esafty from implementing its online safety measures, Grant said.

Telegram said he fully answered all Esafty’s questions last year, without outstanding problems.

“The unfair and disproportionate punishment refers only to the response time and we intend to appeal,” the company said in an E -mail.

The spying agency in Australia in December said that one in five cases of priority terrorism has investigated young people involved.

The messenger platform was growing worldwide, because its founder Pavel Durov was placed under a formal investigation in France in August, in relation to the alleged use of the application for illegal activities.

Durov, who is on bail, denied the accusations.

Grant said that the high technology must be transparent and implement measures to prevent their services, because the threat represented by the online extremist materials presents an increasing risk.

“If we want the responsibility in the technology industry, we need a much greater transparency. These powers take a look under the hood at the way these platforms deal or do not deal, with a number of serious and irregular online damages, which affect the Australians, “Grant said.

If Telegram chooses to ignore the penalty opinion, Esafty would request a civil sentence in court, Grant said.