Trouble mounts for Telegram: Govt report flags concern over child abuse, fraud

NEW DELHI: The government investigation has found that Telegram is being widely used for the circulation of child sexual abuse material and the execution of financial fraud schemes, news agency Reuters reported citing an internal report that also said authorities were “proactively monitoring” groups and channels operating on the messaging platform.

The findings were contained in a 35-page report prepared by the home ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), which was submitted before a court as part of the government’s defence of a week-long ban imposed on Telegram. The restriction followed allegations that NEET question papers been leaked through the platform.

During the legal proceedings, Telegram faced accusations of failing to adequately curb misinformation spread and paper leaks through its channels, allegations the company rejected.

While the ban was lifted on Tuesday, users will remain unable to access the platform’s message-editing feature until June 30.

The report highlighted concerns over Telegram’s privacy architecture, noting that users can communicate without publicly disclosing their phone numbers, making identification and tracing more difficult for authorities.

India is Telegram’s largest market with more than 150 million users.

The latest concerns come amid a series of investigations and controversies involving Telegram across several countries. French authorities opened an investigation in 2024 into alleged organised criminal activity conducted through the platform. In the same year, Telegram came under intense scrutiny in South Korea over the circulation of sexually explicit deepfake images and videos targeting women. Spain also temporarily suspended access to the platform over copyright-related concerns.

In April, Britain’s communications regulator launched a probe into Telegram following evidence suggesting that child sexual abuse material was being shared through the service. Telegram has denied the allegations and maintained that since 2018 it has “virtually eliminated” the public spread of child sexual abuse material on its platform through detection algorithms.

The government’s report said Telegram’s structure differs significantly from platforms such as WhatsApp, which is the nation’s most widely used messaging service with more than 500 million users, where such large public channels are not available in the same way.

“Cyber criminals use Telegram to access closed groups/channels … (India) is proactively monitoring such Telegram groups and channels,” the report said, according to Reuters, which reviewed the document.

However, neither Telegram nor the home ministry responded to Reuters’ requests for comment regarding the report.

Dated June 10, the government document included screenshots from Telegram groups allegedly featuring fraudulent job advertisements, child sexual abuse and exploitation material, and pirated copies of the Bollywood film Dhurandhar.

Telegram told the court that an internal assessment had found illegal content accounted for less than 0.1 per cent of material shared on the platform.

However, the government report stated that authorities had received more than 688,000 complaints since 2023 linking Telegram to cyber fraud. The alleged scams are estimated to have caused losses of around $750 million to Indian citizens.

The report further stated that citizens had reported numerous Telegram channels, groups and user accounts for online harassment and the dissemination of child sexual abuse content. Between January and May this year alone, authorities recorded 1,556 complaints connected to the platform, it added.