Times when Telegram was on the radar of Indian authorities

Stock price manipulation

Telegram has often been targeted by SEBI for stock market manipulation. In 2023, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) imposed fines of more than Rs 2.84 crore on the administrators of a Telegram channel for stock recommendations.

The market regulator also disclosed a stock price manipulation scam via Telegram in June 2024. It said the owner of a group had paid Rs 20 lakh to people associated with a listed company.

Cybercrime

In a Hindustan Times reportThe publication quoted a senior police officer from the Delhi Police's Cybercrime Unit as pointing out that Telegram's anonymity feature was making investigations difficult.

“One of the most prevalent scams on Telegram is the investment scam, where a user is added to a group and suggested to invest their money in stocks on a fake application that mirrors a legitimate stock trading app,” the official explained. “This scam is where most people lose their money on Telegram,” the official said Hindustan times.

The official also stated that the company often cooperated poorly in the investigation.

Lack of transparency

Rakesh Maheshwari, former head of the Cyber ​​Laws Division in the Ministry of Electronics and Technology, said Hindustan Newspaper that Telegram was particularly uncooperative in two areas: obscenity and copyright.

Speaking to the publication, he said: “Telegram has occasionally been unwilling to cooperate, despite appointing an India-based grievance officer, a chief compliance officer and a central contact person, and opening an office in India. [Gurugram]after the announcement of the IT rules 2021.

“Generally, they would comply with blocking orders under Section 69A, but in some other cases where the ministry forwarded the complaints as received, they were unwilling to comply with them even when the content appeared potentially illegal and harmful or led to such URLs,” he added.

Telegram also does not publish an official monthly transparency report, although it is required under the IT Rules 2021.

Now that the platform is coming under scrutiny in Paris, it will be interesting to see whether the Indian government also considers taking action against Telegram.

(With contributions from agencies)