Tag: Telegram

  • Telegram founder allowed to leave Franceb after arrest, authorities continue case against him

    Telegram founder allowed to leave Franceb after arrest, authorities continue case against him

    Founder and CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been allowed to return to his home in Dubai while French authorities continue their legal case against him.

    The billionaire was arrested in August 2024 after being accused of not doing enough to control illegal activities on Telegram. He denies claims that he failed to help law enforcement stop drug trafficking, child abuse content, and fraud. Telegram has also rejected accusations of poor moderation.

    This case is historic, as it is the first time a tech leader has been arrested for crimes linked to their platform.

    In a message on his Telegram channel, Durov said, “The process is ongoing, but it feels great to be home.”

    He was first detained in Paris when he arrived on his private jet, and French judges initially refused to let him leave. However, on Monday, a French court announced that his travel restrictions had been lifted from March 15 to April 7. No further details were given about his release conditions.

    Durov was born in Russia and holds multiple citizenships, including French, Emirati, and St Kitts and Nevis. Telegram is widely used in Russia, Ukraine, other former Soviet countries, and Iran.


    ‘Relentless efforts’
    Telegram has about 950 million users worldwide and has always promoted itself as a platform that values user privacy over the stricter policies followed by other major social media companies.

    However, investigations by the BBC and other media outlets have revealed that criminals have been using the app to sell drugs, offer cybercrime and fraud services, and even share child abuse content.


    It led one expert to brand it “the dark web in your pocket”.

    The firm has previously said his arrest is unfair, and he should not be held liable for what users do on the platform.
    From his home in Dubai, Mr Durov thanked the French judges for letting him go home.


    He also thanked his lawyers for their “relentless efforts in demonstrating that, when it comes to moderation, cooperation, and fighting crime, for years Telegram not only met but exceeded its legal obligations”.

    Since Pavel Durov’s arrest, Telegram has made several changes to how it operates.

    The platform has joined the Internet Watch Foundation, an organization that helps detect, remove, and report child abuse content online.

    Telegram has also announced that it will share the IP addresses and phone numbers of users who break its rules with the police if requested through legal channels.

    Additionally, the company has started publishing transparency reports showing the amount of content it removes. This is a common practice in the tech industry, but Telegram had previously refused to follow it.

  • Tiktok, Telegram and 1xBet banned by Somalia

    Tiktok, Telegram and 1xBet banned by Somalia

    The Ministry of Communications and Technology in Somalia has issued an order to internet service providers to suspend access to social media platforms TikTok and Telegram, along with the gambling site 1xBet.

    Minister of Communications and Technology, Jama Hassan Khalif, issued this directive in a statement released on Sunday, August 20.

    The decision was grounded in concerns related to security and counter-terrorism efforts, as well as the perceived adverse influence of these platforms on the lives of Somali youth.

    Khalif said Somalia has resorted to the controversial ban to ”protect the moral behavior of the Somali community when using communication and internet tools.”

    The statement partly read; “In a bid to accelerate the war and elimination of the terrorists who have shed the blood of the Somali people, the minister of communication and technology instructs companies that provide internet services to suspend TikTok, Telegram, and 1XBET betting applications, which terrorists and groups responsible for spreading immorality use to spread graphic clips, photos and mislead society.”

    The ready availability of these platforms has led to a significant increase in their usage among the younger population, sparking apprehensions regarding the potential for adverse influences and exploitation.

    In Kenya, the National Assembly is presently examining a petition that calls for a TikTok ban, citing concerns over explicit content and a lack of adequate regulation.

  • Iraq bans Telegram and alleges infringement of personal data

    Iraq bans Telegram and alleges infringement of personal data

    The Telegram messaging app has been blocked in Iraq, according to the country’s telecoms ministry, due to concerns about national security and to protect the integrity of customer data that the program allegedly managed improperly.

    Iraqis frequently use the app for texting, news consumption, and content sharing.

    A significant amount of personal information, including Iraqis’ names, addresses, and familial ties, may be found on some channels.

    The ministry said in a statement it had asked the app to close down “platforms that leak the data of the official state institutions and the personal data of citizens… but the company did not respond and did not interact with any of these requests.”

    “The Ministry of Communications affirms its respect for citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and communication, without prejudice to the security of the state and its institutions,” the statement said.

    Telegram did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

  • Social media access restored in Ethiopia after 5 months

    Social media access restored in Ethiopia after 5 months

    Ethiopia has lifted its ban on accessing popular social media platforms including Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube after a period of over five months,

    The blackout was initially implemented on February 9th of this year following tensions between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the government.

    During the blackout, only individuals who had access to virtual private network (VPN) software were able to bypass the restrictions, albeit at the cost of additional data usage.

    The conflict within the Orthodox Church emerged when certain archbishops from the Oromia region expressed their desire to establish a new synod, allowing services to be conducted in the Oromo language. This development resulted in violent clashes. However, a mediation effort by the government has helped to ease the tensions and restore stability.

    As of now, there has been no official statement from the authorities regarding the decision to lift the ban.

    The move to lift the ban comes after a period of mediation and efforts to address the underlying issues that led to the conflict.

    With the restoration of access to these social media platforms, individuals in Ethiopia can once again engage with online communities, share content, and connect with others across the globe.

  • Mom, 67, hires hitman to murder her kids over possessions

    Mom, 67, hires hitman to murder her kids over possessions

    A Russian woman is suspected of hiring an assassin to kill her children in order to take their inheritance.

    The 67-year-old was detained by police last week in Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia.

    Three plain-clothes officers are seen holding the elderly outside of her home in video published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Telegram.

    ‘Do you understand why you were detained?’ one of them asks her on the street while cuffing her.

    Surprised, the woman replies: ‘No.’

    It was alleged she ordered the murder of her son and two daughters, so she could become the sole owner of a family property.

    She shared her plan with her friend who helped her find a hitman, who was later paid ₽80,000, or a little more than £810 to do the job.

    Her alleged deviousness was exposed on the day when the hired killer was supposed to take one of her daughters out.

    Pictures shared by police show the pile of cash that she had allegedly taken out to make the payment.

    A ministry statement said: ‘Employees of the criminal investigation department of the Krasnoyarskoye Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia detained a suspect in organising the murder of her children.

    ‘Operatives received information that a resident of the regional center, born in 1956, wishing to remain the sole owner of real estate, ordered the murder of her son, born in 1978, and daughters born in 1974.’

  • Ukraine war: The surrender hotline for Russian soldiers

    The Ukrainian government has said a scheme it created for Russian soldiers to surrender is getting up to 100 enquiries a day.

    The “I Want To Live” project was started in September.

    By calling a hotline or entering details through messenger apps, Russian troops can arrange the best way to surrender to Ukrainian forces.

    Officials in Kyiv say they’ve had more than 3,500 contacts from invading personnel, as well as their families.

    There’s been an apparent increase since Russian President Vladimir Putin mobilised hundreds of thousands of Russian men, and since the city of Kherson was liberated.

    The BBC has been given recordings from some of the calls.

    As the dark hallways suggest, Ukraine’s headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War isn’t immune to the power blackouts which plague the country.

    In a small office we meet Svitlana, not her real name, a Ukrainian call handler who speaks to Russian soldiers daily.

    They can either get in touch over the phone or on most messenger apps, such as Telegram and WhatsApp.

    She explains the evenings are busiest, when troops have more spare time and can sneak off and make a call.

    “First of all, we hear a voice, mainly male,” she explains. “It’s often part-desperate, part-frustrated, because they don’t fully understand how the hotline works, or whether it’s just a set-up.

    “There’s also curiosity because many call not to surrender but to find out how they could if needed. It’s different every time.”

    Chats from the "I Want To Live" Ukrainian surrender hotline
    Image caption,The BBC was given access to some of the calls made to the hotline
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    Svitlana isn’t allowed to tell us how many Russians she’s helped, or exactly how it happens. They’re just told to share their location before being given further instructions.

    Some Russian soldiers also get in touch to provoke them, she says, although she doesn’t think all of them believe the Kremlin’s baseless claims that Ukraine is run by Nazis.

    “We can’t judge an entire country,” she says. “The majority of them are worried about their lives.”

    Svitlana also recalls a call from one man who lived in occupied Crimea and had been mobilised to fight against his own family, and country.

    It seems Moscow has now blocked the phone numbers from being reached inside Russia. Calls from either a UK or Russian Sim card are greeted with an error message.

    Chats from the "I Want To Live" Ukrainian surrender hotline
    Staff at the I Want To Live project said each call is different
    1px transparent line

    “Ask yourself a question – what are you fighting for?” says the dramatic voice-over in Ukraine’s “I Want To Live” propaganda video aimed at Russian soldiers.

    Explosions appear in sync with evocative music, and there are images of Russian soldiers apparently surrendering before two phone numbers are shown at the end.

    They’re even told to wave a white flag if they’re too close to the front line.

    This is, of course, part of the information war. The anatomy of Ukraine’s attempts to weaken Russian morale.

    On the walls of Svitlana’s office are pictures of Ukrainian prisoners of war. They’re all thought to still be alive, and this hotline is central to Kyiv’s efforts to bring them home.

    Once they surrender, Russian prisoners of war (PoWs) can be used as currency in future exchanges.

    According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Kremlin is also carrying out more prisoner of war exchanges as it tries to soothe critics from inside Russia.

    There are thought to be thousands of PoWs on both sides, but the exact numbers aren’t clear.

    Vitalii Matviyenko, who heads up the I Want To Live project
    Image caption,Vitalii Matviyenko, who leads the I Want To Live project, says it was created to help save lives of those who surrender

    “We especially want to target the partially mobilised who not only can’t fight but are thrown in as cannon fodder,” says Vitalii Matviyenko, who heads up the scheme.

    “This project was created so their lives will be guaranteed if they surrender voluntarily.”

    For outnumbered Ukraine, it’s also hoped it will soften the belly of their larger invader.

    Additional reporting by Daria Sipigina, Hanna Chornous and Moose Campbell.

    Source: BBC

  • Beware of online shopping scams this holiday season – CSA warns

    The Cyber Security Authority (CSA) says it anticipates a surge in the number of shopping scams such as fake online shops and malware attacks as the Christmas shopping season draws near as has, thus, warned the public to be on the lookout.

    These online fraudsters according to the CSA create online profiles to promote and sell non-existing goods at very affordable prices.

    “They ask potential buyers to make upfront payments to mobile money wallets with names not related to the shop or even the seller. After receiving payment, they don’t deliver the goods, and they subsequently block the buyer from communicating with them,” the CSA explained in a statement.

    The CSA added that these fraudsters scam people through Phishing.

    Phishing, the Authority explained, is a tactic that malicious actors use to deceive people into disclosing their personal information e.g. debit/credit card number or account password by getting them to click on malicious links cloaked in official-looking emails, attachments, and logos that lead to impersonated websites of popular brands like Amazon or Alibaba.

    The authority has, thus, recommended the following:

    • Be on the lookout for fake online shops and hyped adverts, especially on Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram.

    • Do due diligence on any shopping site before purchasing items online.

    • As much as possible only shop from reputable and well-known online stores and stay away from websites you have never heard about.

    • Do payments on delivery rather than making payments with the assurance that the goods purchased will be delivered.

    • Be cautious of proposals and deals including those shared by email, that seem too good to be true no matter how appealing they appear.

     

  • Russia to  evacuate inhabitants of Kherson as Ukrainian military advance

    In a sign that Russia is losing control of the territory it purports to have annexed, the government agrees to evacuate the Kherson people in response to a request from the Moscow-installed governor.

    People from Ukraine’s southern Kherson region are anticipated to start arriving in Russia after a Moscow-installed administrator in the partially controlled region urged inhabitants to evacuate for their own safety.

    In a sign of Moscow’s weakening hold on territory it claims to have annexed, Moscow said it would help residents evacuate amid an advancing Ukrainian counteroffensive.

    “The government took the decision to organise assistance for the departure of residents of the [Kherson] region,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Thursday.

    The Russian-installed governor of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region earlier told residents to take their children and flee, after Kyiv said it had retaken five settlements in the southern region.

    In a video statement on Telegram, Vladimir Saldo had publicly asked for Moscow’s help transporting civilians to safer areas.

    “Every day, the cities of Kherson region are subjected to missile attacks,” Saldo said. “As such, the leadership of the Kherson administration has decided to provide Kherson families with the option to travel to other regions of the Russian Federation to rest and study.”

    “We suggested that all residents of the Kherson region, if they wish, to protect themselves from the consequences of missile strikes … go to other regions,” he said, advising people to “leave with their children”.

    Residents on the west bank of the Dnieper River had priority, he said. That includes the regional capital, the only major Ukrainian city Russia has captured intact since its February 24 invasion.

    Russia’s TASS news agency reported the first group of civilians fleeing from Kherson was expected to arrive in Russia’s Rostov region as soon as Friday.  Others are expected to head to Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

    Kherson is one of four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces that Russia this month announced it had annexed, and arguably the most strategically important. It controls both the only land route to the Crimean peninsula and the mouth of the Dnieper, the giant river that bisects Ukraine.

    Since the start of October, Ukrainian forces have burst through Russia’s front lines there in their biggest advance in the south since the war began.

    They have since moved rapidly along the river’s western bank, aiming to cut off thousands of Russian troops from supply lines and potential routes of retreat.

    Kyiv says it has recaptured more than 400 square kilometres (155 miles) in the Kherson region in less than a week, with its forces bearing down towards the three-kilometer-long (two-mile-long) Nova Kakhovka dam that provides one of the last river crossings.

    Mykolaiv, the nearest big Ukrainian-held city to Kherson, came under massive Russian bombardment on Thursday, with civilian facilities hit, local officials said.

    Regional governor Vitaly Kim said the top two floors of a five-storey residential building were destroyed and the rest was under rubble. Video footage provided by state emergency services showed rescuers pulling out an 11-year-old boy who Kim said had spent six hours trapped under the destroyed building.

    In the east, three Russian missiles exploded on Thursday morning near the central market in Kupiansk, a major railway junction city that Ukrainian forces recaptured during their big advance there in September.

    The missiles destroyed shops, carpeting surrounding streets with glass shards, rubble, and twisted metal sheets.

     

    ‘Dangerous times’

    On Thursday, NATO allies meeting in Brussels unveiled plans to jointly beef up Europe’s air defences with Patriot and other missile systems.

    “We are living in threatening, dangerous times,” said German Minister of Defence Christine Lambrecht at a signing ceremony where Germany and more than a dozen European NATO members committed to jointly procuring weapons for a “European Sky Shield”.

    Moscow said more military aid for Kyiv made members of the US-led military alliance “a direct party to the conflict” and said admitting Ukraine to NATO would trigger a global conflict.

    Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell sent a strong message to the Kremlin after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s veiled threats of resorting to nuclear weapons to stem growing battlefield losses.

    “Putin is saying he is not bluffing. Well, he cannot afford bluffing, and it has to be clear that the people supporting Ukraine and the European Union and the Member States, and the United States and NATO are not bluffing either,” Borrell said.

    “Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Army will be annihilated.”