It’s hard to enjoy a good reputation though your initial notoriety is linked to the ISIS terrorists: in 2015 it was discovered that Telegram was the favorite tool of the followers of the Caliphate, who used it to communicate privately, to propaganda on channels dedicated to jihad, organize attacks and more, taking advantage of the (partial) anonymity and tools offered by an app that at the time had fewer than 100 million users (compared to just exceeded one billion total downloads).
From then on, the fame of the messaging app founded by the Russian brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov only got worse. It was at the center of investigations related to the exchange of child pornography material and of revenge porn, it is considered the new movie piracy paradise, has long hosted the channels where pirated copies of newspapers were exchanged, is used for the sale of illegal drugs and more. More generally, given the growing attention of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube towards the content circulating on their platforms, Telegram, thanks to its greater tolerance, has become the favorite place for extremists, conspiracy theorists and anyone who prefers to act online and feel safe from prying eyes.
The numbers of the phenomenon
Fake Green Passes on Telegram: scammers grew by 257% in 5 months
by Emanuele Capone
It is not (only) a question of privacy
However, the attention to privacy is not the real reason for Telegram’s success: in this respect the Durov brothers’ app is probably overrated, given that collects metadata about users and does not encrypt communications by default. The popularity of Telegram is mostly linked to its hybrid nature between messaging apps and social networks. Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram allows you to create public channels and thematic groups that can be shared via a simple link, but compared to a normal social network it allows you to make propaganda, disseminate disinformation and in some cases exchanging illicit contents giving less attention and enjoying greater tolerance than what happens on Facebook or Twitter.
The last borderline case of this kind is obviously that of the No Vax and of those who consider the Green Pass the symbol of an alleged dictatorship. Although groups of this type also exist elsewhere (starting with Facebook), it is on Telegram that the most numerous and active ones can be found: in addition to the now well-known Basta Dictatorship (about 40 thousand members), according to an investigation conducted by the business intelligence firm Baia, there are about fifty groups with at least 100 members, for a total that exceeds 200 thousand. All identifiable quite easily: by performing a search through the engine inside the app or directly on Google.
Is the bad name deserved?
In short, a substantial part of the semi-clandestine (or presumed) activity of the Web has been transferred to Telegram, now equated to realities that enjoy a bad reputation like 4Chan or the Dark Web. But is this a correct view? Only partially. First of all, Telegram has already shown in the past that it is not insensitive to the use made of it, independently deciding to shut down some of the most violent groups present on the app. It is not even a bunker that is difficult to penetrate, given that ours Guard di Finanza had no difficulty in blocking all pirate groups where digital copies of the main Italian newspapers were exchanged.
Preview
WhatsApp, here are photos and videos that disappear after a single view
by Simone Cosimi
Also the protection of anonymity e the privacy of communications, as mentioned, is partial: although messages are protected through end-to-end encryption (unlike Whatsapp, not by default) and although it is possible not to show your phone number or send messages that delete themselves, the police however they managed to defeat pedophile groups and execute dozens of arrests based on investigations born on Telegram. If that weren’t enough, on several occasions i founders were willing to cooperate with law enforcement.
Nonetheless, Telegram has become the favorite target of those who believe that privacy is functional above all to protect criminals and extremists, forgetting how the confidentiality of communications is of importance. also essential to protect political dissidents acting in low-democratic nations or to protect the exchange of information between journalists and their sources. The European Commission itself warmly has it suggested his staff to use Signal for communications, an app considered even more secure than Telegram.
This is also why it would be dangerous to accept pressure from law enforcement to insert a backdoor into Telegram or elsewhere (i.e. a digital entrance door that allows those who own the keys to collect information and intercept communications), because it would jeopardize not only the communications of criminals and extremists, but of anyone who needs privacy to carry out the its activities or simply wants to enjoy a fundamental right.
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