Telegram to battle the distribution of CSAM

Telegram will integrate tools from the United Kingdom’s Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from being spread on the platform.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is a nonprofit charity organization that was founded in 1996 to ‘hunt down and remove any online record of child sexual abuse’. In order to achieve this, the advocacy group works with tech companies, social media platforms, governments, and law enforcement agencies from around the world.

Telegram is a cloud-based instant messaging service with more than 950 million monthly active users. The platform has joined forces with the IWF to proactively seek and remove images and videos of sexual child abuse that are being spread on Telegram.

It’s the first time Telegram will use tools and data from the IWF. Both parties have come to an agreement, which will give Telegram access to the IWF’s tools and datasets to tackle the spread of CSAM.

Telegram will be using a range of IWF services, including ‘hashes’ or digital fingerprints of millions of known child sexual abuse images and videos. As soon as the software detects any material on child sexual abuse, it will be removed. This will only be done on the public parts of the platform, not in private chats.

Derek Ray-Hill, Interim CEO at the IWF, calls Telegram’s partaking a “transformational first step on a much longer journey.”

“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,” Ray-Hill says in a statement.

Remi Vaughn, Head of Press and Media Relations at Telegram, is pleased with the partnership. “The IWF’s datasets and tools will strengthen the mechanisms Telegram has in place to protect its public platform and further ensure that Telegram can continue to effectively delete child abuse materials before they can reach any users,” he states.

Telegram hasn’t always been cooperative with law enforcement agencies and other organizations in sharing user information and stopping criminal offenses on its platform, like the distribution of CSAM, drug trafficking, and fraud.

In August, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov got arrested in France for failing to respond to investigation requests into cybercrime and financial fraud on Telegram.

After his release in September, Durov promised that Telegram would share the personal information of suspects who might be involved in criminal activities that violate Telegram’s Terms of Service with law enforcement agencies.

“We won’t let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users,” he said.

Since then, Telegram has shared suspects’ data with the Dutch Public Prosecution Service on numerous occasions.