Report: EU examines stricter classification of Telegram
The EU Commission is reviewing its methodology after the messenger service Telegram was not classified as a large online platform under the Digital Services Act
(Image: Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock.com)
The messenger service Telegram has come under the scrutiny of the regulatory authorities of the European Union (EU). They are currently examining whether the service should be classified as an important online platform within the meaning of the new EU Digital Services Act (DSA). This was reported by the news agency Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the report, the EU authorities are in talks with Telegram about the number of users in the EU and how the platform should be defined. In addition to the messenger functions, Telegram also includes channels that users can follow. The EU side is questioning Telegram's claim that the messenger service has "only" 41 million regular users in the EU, according to the Bloomberg sources, who do not wish to be named because the discussions are not public.
The EU Digital Services Act provides for stricter rules to prevent the spread of disinformation and fake news for so-called very large online platforms if they have more than 45 million active users according to the EU's definition. According to a spokesperson for the European Commission, it is examining Telegram's methodology for counting users.
Using the DSA against social media groups
The EU Digital Services Act came into force in November last year. It obliges large social media platforms and search engines to take tougher action against hate speech and disinformation online. At the same time, it enables the EU to impose fines of up to six percent of annual global turnover on large platforms in the event of infringements. In the event of repeated infringements, companies can also be banned from the EU.
At the end of April, the EU Commission initiated proceedings against Facebook and Instagram. The parent company Meta was accused of not sufficiently combating misleading advertising and disinformation campaigns in the EU. The Commission has already initiated proceedings against TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, for possible violations of the DSA.
"We think that Telegram is such a big platform that it should be subject to similar obligations as Facebook, X and YouTube," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told Bloomberg in early May. "It should be considered a very large online platform."
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