Retreat zone: the EU is not going to block Telegram yet

The European Union is not considering a complete blocking of Telegram on its territory, the European Commission told Izvestia. Meanwhile, they recalled the existence of a special procedure that allows the service to be temporarily suspended in the EU if it poses a security risk to the EU member states. At the same time, the EC confirmed that they do not trust the data received from Telegram and conduct their own calculation of the number of European users of the messenger. On the risks of a complete blocking of Telegram in the EU - in the material "Izvestia".

How Telegram works in the EU

The Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force in February 2024, allows for the possibility of temporary suspension of Telegram in the Union. At the same time, the probability of such a scenario is extremely low. This was stated to "Izvestia" by the representative of the European Commission Tom Renier.

- The temporary suspension of the platform means that there is indeed an encroachment on public security. We can not say: "we do not like your content, and therefore we decided to block you". We have to prove that there is a serious breach of public security in the European Union. But that is very unlikely. We are not considering blocking Telegram," he said.

Toma Renier noted that the European Commission keeps its own count of Telegram users in the European Union. If it turns out that their number is more than 45 million people, the service falls under the definition of "very large online platform" and goes under the direct supervision of the European Commission. In February this year, the Telegram administration reported that the number of users of the messenger in the EU is 41 million people. At the same time, the EC believes that it is much larger.

By the way, at the EU level, the Belgian Institute of Postal Services and Telecommunications (IBPT) is responsible for supervising Telegram's work. The institution told Izvestia that it is in contact with Telegram and the European Commission, but refused to disclose the number of users of the platform.

If Telegram is still recognized as a "very large online platform," the EC will be able to temporarily suspend its activities throughout the EU. However, this is an extreme measure that the EC will only go for in case of continued violations of the law. Initially, the platform will be fined up to 6% of the company's global annual turnover.

- The suspension of the platform's operation in the EU will be precisely temporary, because if it complies with the DSA again, we have no reason to prevent it from operating. The law is not intended to block online platforms, be it Meta (the company's activities are recognized as extremist in Russia and banned) and X (former Twitter)," said Toma Renier.

It should be noted that the DSA mandates that major online platforms provide users with a tool that makes it easy to report illegal content. Upon receiving such a report, they must quickly remove or block it. In addition, the platform is required to cooperate with individuals or organizations in the EU who will "based on their experience and skills" signal illegal content to be moderated.

According to Igor Bederov, head of Internet Search, the EU has all the means to accurately count the number of Telegram users and block its operation if necessary.

- All major telecom operators like Vodafone work in a centralized manner. It is not that difficult to collect information from them about which users are using Telegram. As a rule, we are talking about active Telegram users who access it at least once a week. As for blocking, unlike Russia, they have implemented technologies that allow them to analyze packet traffic and find out exactly where and what the user is accessing and thus block this traffic," he told Izvestia.

Prospects for blocking Telegram in the EU

Telegram has repeatedly come under the attention of European authorities - the administration of the application, in particular, was accused of promoting disinformation and supporting extremism. Thus, in March this year, a court in Spain banned the service after four major media groups in the country - Mediaset, Atresmedia, Movistar and Egeda - complained that through Telegram content created by them and protected by copyright, without the permission of the creators. The court decision was later appealed. In March 2023, Norway banned civil servants and political advisers from using Telegram on their work devices.

Discussions around the possible blocking of the service in the European Union intensified after the detention of Telegram creator Pavel Durov in France in August. French law enforcement authorities accused him of providing encryption services to people who used them for criminal purposes, in particular for the distribution of child pornography and the sale of drugs. Durov is now in the country under a non-deportation order. Similar claims against Telegram were also heard in other EU countries.

For example, Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said that he would very much like to block encrypted messaging services, as they make it increasingly difficult to catch criminals, but this is still legally impossible. According to him, many criminals use Telegram and similar messengers to recruit new associates.

A similar opinion was expressed by Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Stremmer. According to him, encryption of messages "weakens the ability of the authorities to control gangs". At the same time, the deputy head of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Zinan Zelen, accused the messenger of insufficient cooperation with the authorities. He said this is especially pronounced when it comes to countering terrorism or right-wing extremism. "There are platforms that provide information very quickly and reliably within the limits of legally authorized requests, but Telegram is not one of them," Zelen said.

It should not be forgotten that in February 2024, in a number of EU countries, such as France and Germany, messenger users were already blocked access to some Telegram channels covering the conflict in Ukraine from Moscow's position.

According to Igor Bederov, the EU, like Russia, does not have the capacity to read the correspondence of all Telegram users. In addition, this contradicts the principles of law enforcement agencies, which should do so only after obtaining the appropriate authorization. At the same time, it is not very difficult to gain access to Telegram correspondence if law enforcement officials know the user's phone number.

- Being a law enforcement officer, you re-issue the subscriber's SIM card, and open access to it. Through the operator you wrap the traffic to yourself and decrypt the traffic that goes to Telegram, - said the expert.

Finally, there is special spyware, such as the Israeli Pegasus. This program "reads Telegram perfectly well." Thus, as the expert concludes, there are many ways to gain access to correspondence in Telegram, if the name of the criminal is known.