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Germany fines messaging app Telegram $5M

Germany announced Monday that the messaging app Telegram has been fined a total of more than $5 million for violating the country’s laws requiring that social networking platforms provide channels to report posts containing criminal content. Image courtesy of Telegram
Germany announced Monday that the messaging app Telegram has been fined a total of more than $5 million for violating the country’s laws requiring that social networking platforms provide channels to report posts containing criminal content. Image courtesy of Telegram

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Germany announced Monday that the messaging app Telegram has been fined a total of more than $5 million for violating the country's laws requiring that social networking platforms provide channels to report posts containing criminal content.

Germany's Federal Justice Office said in a statement that it found that Telegram had violated the country's Network Enforcement Act in 2021 and 2022 and levied the punishment in two fines.

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The first fine of about $4.2 million was imposed for the failure to adhere to the Net Enforcement Act while the second was imposed for a failure to provide German courts with the name of a person in the country with a German address so authorities could serve the company with legal documents.

German authorities said that they had "previously tried several times since April 2021" to deliver hearing letters to Telegram's headquarters in Dubai but were unsuccessful despite support from authorities in the United Arab Emirates.

Telegram is headquartered in Dubai and was founded by Pavel Durov, who fled Russia in exile in 2014 after losing control of his previous company for refusing to hand over the data of Ukrainian protesters to Russian security agencies after the latter illegally annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.

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It is one of the top five most downloaded apps in the world with more than 700 million active users. The app, which is encrypted, has been used by Ukrainians and Russians alike in discussing the war as well as in other countries.

The Federal Justice Office noted that the fines are not final and that Telegram can appeal the decision.

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