The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is investigating Telegram for allegedly abusing the platform for criminal activities such as extortion and gambling. Authorities also noted that depending on the results of the investigation, the whole Telegram ban is possible in the country.
These statements have been released days after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was detained in Paris.
Indian authorities emphasize that it is difficult for them to interact with Telegram due to the lack of physical presence of the company in the country.
There is difficulty in dealing with Telegram because they have no presence in India. The absence of a local office prevents direct communication, complicating efforts to request user data,” a government official said.
The messenger’s further fate depends on the results of a government check.
We will examine the kind of material that we get and based on our laws, we will come to a conclusion,” the public servant noted.
A ban is not imminent as Telegram is compliant with India’s information technology rules.
“If Telegram did not comply with IT rules, it would not have been allowed to operate. So yes, the platform is compliant with IT rules,” sources in the Home Ministry confirmed.
>It is worth noting that Telegram has already been at the center of a high-profile scandal in India.
Thus, the messaging app leaked the questions of the National Eligibility Examination for Bachelors – NEET. The data was being sold at a price ranging from $60 to $120. This led to student protests and the Supreme Court had to intervene in the situation.
Last year in October, the IT ministry issued a notice to Telegram demanding the removal of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) from its platform.
- More details on the situation are available here.
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