European Officials Investigate Alleged Telegram Lies Related To User Number

Illustration of the Telegram application (photo: Pexels)

JAKARTA - European Union officials are reportedly investigating whether Telegram's messaging platform is lying about its number of users to avoid regulation under the Digital Service Act (DSA) or not.

"We have a way through our own system and calculations to determine how accurate user data is," said Thomas Regnier, a spokesman for the European Commission for digital issues to the Financial Times, quoted by Engadget.

Earlier this year, Telegram claimed to have 41 million users in Europe. Although, there has been no update on the number of active users in the region

Officials later claimed Telegram's failure to reveal the true number was a form of violation of the DSA. Meanwhile, officials believe that the investigation will reveal that there are more than 45 million Europeans using Telegram.

This problem came after Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested at French airport last Saturday. Nevertheless, Durov has been released after paying 5 million euros or IDR 85.7 billion.

Amid investigations, French prosecutors charged Durov with involvement in distributing child pornography, illegal drugs, and hacking software and declined to cooperate in investigating illegal activities on his platform.

Even though he is no longer detained, Durov still has to stay in France and be under surveillance. Durov is also required to report twice a week during the investigation period.