Telegram is finally taking steps to fight child sexual abuse material (CSAM), joining the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
Telegram has a reputation for fighting any and all attempts to moderate content, including resisting attempts by law enforcement to access accounts. The platform’s moderation troubles ultimately led to CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France, with the country’s authorities charging the executive with 12 counts related to child pornography, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
In the wake of Durov’s arrest, Telegram has been making sweeping changes to its moderation, giving users the ability to report illegal content, and signaling that it will cooperate with governments, including them them access to data in response to valid legal requests.
In its latest move, the company is joining IWF to specifically combat CSAM on its platform. The IWF announced the move in a press release on its site.
Telegram will deploy new tools to proactively prevent child sexual abuse imagery from being spread in public parts of its platform.
For the first time, the social media platform, which has more than 950million active users a month, will use tools and data from the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in addition to its own to detect, disrupt, remove, and block child sexual abuse imagery.
The IWF is the UK’s front line against child sexual abuse imagery online and one of only a handful of non-law enforcement bodies worldwide with the legal power to pro-actively seek out and remove images and videos of child sexual abuse.
It works with tech companies, social media platforms, Governments, and law enforcement globally to stop the repeated victimisation of people abused in childhood.
Today (December 4) the IWF has announced it has granted Telegram membership in an agreement which will give it access to the IWF’s world-leading datasets and tried and trusted technology to help tackle child sexual abuse imagery on the platform.
“This is a transformational first step on a much longer journey,” said Derek Ray-Hill, Interim CEO at the IWF. “We look forward to seeing what further steps we can take together to create a world in which the spread of online sexual abuse material is virtually impossible and, when it does happen, we are able to remove it very quickly and permanently.
“Child sexual abuse imagery is a horror that blights our world wherever it exists. The children in these images and videos matter. I want to be able to say to every single victim that we will stop at nothing to prevent the images and videos of their suffering being spread online.
“Now, by joining the IWF, Telegram can begin deploying our world-leading tools to help make sure this material cannot be shared on the service. It is an important moment, and we will be working hard with Telegram to make sure this commitment continues and expands to the whole sector.”
Telegram’s Security Catch-22
Telegram is clearing making substantial changes to its business model in an effort to address the legal threats to the platform and its CEO.
As we have pointed out before, much of Telegram’s issue stems from the fact that it does not offer the same security as competing platforms, such as Signal or WhatsApp, despite its claims to the contrary. While those platforms default to end-to-end encryption (E2EE), Telegram requires users to explicitly enable E2EE, meaning the company can access the majority of its users chats and content.
As a result, Telegram could not make the same claim as Signal or WhatsApp that it didn’t have access to illegal content on its platform, meaning any unwillingness to cooperate with law enforcement was just that: unwillingness not inability.
Telegram’s recent changes are sure to help the company avoid any future legal issues, but it remains to be seen if the changes will help or hurt Durov’s case in France. If French authorities were simply trying to force the company’s hand, they have succeeded and may be open to a deal.
On the other hand, if French authorities are looking to make an example out of Durov, then Telegram’s recent changes will actually undermine his defense, since they make it clear that the company had the ability to fight illegal content all along and made a deliberate choice not to.
Conclusion
Regardless of how Telegram’s adjustments—including joining IWF—play out for Durov, the changes are welcome for law enforcement and users alike, and should go a long way toward protecting minors.
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