The EU has a procedure for the temporary suspension of Telegram, but no one is going to block the work of the platform, European Commission (EC) spokesman Thomas Renier said on Monday.
The EU spokesman reminded that blocking Telegram is allowed by The Digital Services Act (DSA) of the EU, which came into force in February 2024, but to apply such serious measures it is necessary to prove that there is indeed an “encroachment on public security.” He emphasised:
We can’t say “we don’t like your content and that’s why 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.
At the same time, according to Renier, the EC is conducting its own count of Telegram users in the EU, and if their number exceeds 45 million people, the service will fall under the definition of “very large online platform” and will go under the direct supervision of the European Commission.
In this case, the EC will be able to temporarily suspend its activities throughout the EU, but before such a measure is applied, the platform may be fined up to 6% of the company’s global annual turnover.
The suspension of the platform’s operations across the EU will be precisely temporary because, if it is back in compliance with the DSA, there is no reason for us to prevent it from operating. The law is not intended to block online platforms, be it Meta and X, Renier said.
The DSA mandates that major online platforms provide users with a tool to easily 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 organisations in the EU who will “based on their experience and skills” signal illegal content to be moderated.
Pavel Durov, billionaire, co-founder and CEO of messenger Telegram, faced arrest at Bourget airport near Paris on August 25. Earlier, Durov said French authorities should have referred complaints to his company rather than detaining him.
On 6 September, Durov wrote his first public comments in Telegram since his detention last month. He also denied any suggestion that the app was an “anarchic paradise,” calling his arrest “misguided.”
Experts assume that European intelligence services want to gain control over one of the largest social networks solely to censor the information posted there, i.e. to openly restrict freedom of speech. And they may achieve their goal at any cost, or rather by exerting maximum pressure on the founder of this network.
