The European Union plans to create a supervisory body to regulate Telegram. The Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT) will regulate the messenger throughout the EU. This is reported by De Standaard, UNN reports .
Details
It is noted that the Belgian Institute of Postal Services and Telecommunications will monitor the messenger's response to illegal content, in particular to Telegram channels that disseminate information about arms trafficking, calls for violence, or coordinated actions against refugees.
Let's say someone in the Netherlands is on a Telegram channel that calls for violence against a synagogue or mosque and sends a report to Telegram, but finds that nothing is done about it. He or she can file a complaint with the BIPT,
He emphasized that overseeing the messenger is not an easy job, as "Telegram is the platform that cooperates the least with governments, and compared to other apps, a lot is possible here.
According to Jimmy Smedts, a spokesman for the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications, BIPT is currently awaiting its official appointment as a regulator.
The publication adds that Belgium has been granted supervision over Telegram under the European Digital Services Act (DSA). This set of EU rules came into force in February, and its purpose is to give EU countries more control over social networks and other online services, in particular by controlling how they moderate content. Telegram has appointed the Belgian company EDSR as its representative in Europe, so the BIPT has jurisdiction over the supervision.
Recall
Telegram may be under the influence of Russian special services and should be regulated by Ukrainian legislation, says the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy.