SYDNEY: Australia’s on-line watchdog stated on Monday (Feb 24) it has fined Telegram greater than US$600,000 for lacking a deadline to disclose the way it tackles “terrorist” and youngster sexual abuse content material.
The encrypted messaging agency replied greater than 5 months after the Could 6, 2024, restrict for disclosing its on-line security compliance, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant stated.
In March final yr, the watchdog requested Telegram and different platforms what they have been doing to detect “terrorist”, violent extremist, and youngster sexual exploitation content material, she stated in a press release.
Telegram didn’t reply till Oct 13, obstructing the fee’s work for nearly half a yr, she stated.
“Surfacing how and the place a few of these platforms could be failing – and likewise succeeding – in tackling this content material is important to guard the neighborhood and lift security requirements throughout the business, particularly the place this most abhorrent of content material is worried.”
Telegram, which was fined A$958,000 (US$613,000), has 28 days to pay the penalty, search extra time to pay, or attempt to get it withdrawn.
If it decides to not pay, the fee can search a penalty within the federal court docket.
Telegram’s Russian-born founder and chief government Pavel Durov was arrested in August last year at a Paris airport and later charged with a number of counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content material on the app.
French prosecutors additionally claimed the Dubai-based platform had did not take motion in opposition to youngster sexual abuse imagery.
Durov, who was launched on a €5 million (US$5.3 million) bail, later introduced a crackdown on unlawful content material.
