With over half a billion active users worldwide, Telegram It is one of the most widely used messaging services.
The communication platform helps connect people from all over the world, with end-to-end encryption providing enhanced security compared to other players in the market.
Telegram can also be a great medium for getting messages across to a larger audience. Through dedicated one-way channels, people can share news, status updates, and emergency alerts, for example.
Telegram on the Anti-Piracy Agenda
Like all technology, these transmission channels are not only used for legitimate purposes. Pirates use them too, as evidenced by the regular mentions in hacking discussions. Not long ago, the European Commission tucked in the Telegram app on its hacking and counterfeiting watch list.
The app was also mentioned in recommendations to the US Trade Representative (USTR) this year, with the International Intellectual Property Alliance calling for stricter policies from Telegram, including the addition of Know Your Business Customer (KYBC) rules.
โTelegram should be more accountable in relation to breaches that occur or are facilitated through its service,โ the recommendation advises.
"IIPA recommends that more be done to encourage KYBC disciplines on intermediaries like Telegram and encourage operators like them to cooperate responsibly."
The courts get involved
Hacking concerns and policy musings like these have not been limited to lobbying and policy efforts. Telegram has also been taken to court on several occasions.
In Portugal, For example, a local court ordered Telegram to block access to more than a dozen channels related to hacking. Similar measures were also taken in Israel and Italy. In India, Telegram to court order required Telegram to reveal the identities of several hacking users.
By now, Telegram is well aware of the hacking challenges, but that hasn't put an end to the problem.
While researching this week, we randomly stumbled upon a Telegram bot that directed us to a channel that shares pirated movies. This was not just a fringe channel; With over a quarter of a million subscribers, he has a massive reach.
Elimination... and repetition
This is not an isolated incident. Those who know where to look find nothing less than dedicated hacking bots and channels, some of which have massive audiences. That is, until they go offline.
TorrentFreak spoke with the operator of a popular channel, who prefers to remain anonymous. They point out that Telegram deletes links and channels all the time, but that doesn't seem like a big problem.
Just as websites can easily switch to new domain names if they are targeted, Telegram channels can also rotate to new names. The operator we spoke to remained rather vague, but we have the impression that landing pages and bots are used to distribute traffic and anticipate these takedown efforts.
130,000 executions
We reached out to Telegram to ask for some statistics and more details about their takedown and enforcement efforts. However, the company did not respond to our request.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) was willing to share his experiences. The anti-piracy group, which represents major Hollywood movie studios and Netflix, has been dealing with Telegram for a few years.
โInitially, Telegram did not respond to notification and takedown requests,โ says Jan van Voorn, director of ACE and director of global content protection for the MPA.
Since then, Telegram has improved its efficiency, and as things stand today, most removal requests are processed within a day.
โWe have focused on improving their [takedown notice] and now we have over 130,000 executions on Telegram with a takedown rate of over 90%, including many violations taken down within 24 hours,โ says van Voorn.
However, ACE also points out that the results are inconsistent and that much remains to be done to successfully crack down on hacking channels, bots, and repeat infringers.
active collaboration
This progress is in progress. The prevalence of hacking abuse on Telegram has resulted in more direct cooperation between ACE and Telegram, which aims to tackle the problem head-on.
โACE has established cooperation to address urgent escalations and has continued outreach to seek further improvements in removing infringing channels, discontinuing hacking bots, and terminating services for repeat infringers,โ Van Voorn explains. .
If this cooperation is successful, it will eventually become more difficult for pirate channels to survive. At least the ones with hundreds of thousands of members.
However, that is not the case today. As we were writing this article, thousands of new members flooded into the hacking channel we referred to above, which now has 271,720, 274,006, 277,169280,339 members.
Meanwhile, YTS, one of the biggest torrent sites out there, also officially joined telegram some days ago. For now, just use the channel to share status updates, but you never know what will happen next.
