It was found that Telegram has been “inundated” with illegal and extremist behavior by the New York Times, which looked at more than 3.2 million messages from 16,000 channels
The Times specifically found 1,500 channels run by white nationalists, 22 channels that sold weapons, and at least 22 channels that advertised drug delivery for MDMA, cocaine, heroin, and other drugs.
Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested in France last month. Police say that Durov helped with illegal activity on Telegram because it didn’t moderate material.
After that, the platform updated its website to allow people to report abuse. Durov has been posting on his Telegram channel, saying, “It is not smart to use laws from before smartphones to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages.”