The French arrest of Pavel Durov, Telegram CEO, has prompted Brussels to probe whether the messaging app has more users in the bloc than previously claimed—and should face stricter EU digital rules.
The platform was thrust into the spotlight after its chief Pavel Durov was arrested in France on Saturday. He has since been released on bail but cannot leave the country. Durov is accused of “failing to curb extremist and illegal content” on the platform, which has over 900 million followers.
Telegram had already been in the European Union’s crosshairs before the French criminal investigation. Independent of the French probe, the European Commission is investigating whether Telegram has the minimum number of users that would require it to comply with more stringent rules as a “very large platform.” The EU’s focus is on the “social network” aspect of the messaging app, which has channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and not on one-to-one messaging between contacts, like on WhatsApp or Signal.
Since February, the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) has forced all platforms in the EU to “protect online users from illegal and harmful content.” But platforms with at least 45 million monthly active users in the EU have even greater obligations, and they are regulated by the Commission rather than national authorities.
The obligations include identifying the risks posed by the platforms and putting measures in place to mitigate them as well as ensuring third-party auditing.
The EU has designated 25 platforms as “very large” including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube. Telegram avoided the extra rules since it reported it had 41 million users in the 27-country bloc in February.
Question of numbers
Under the DSA, platforms must update their figures every six months. The Commission says it has “doubts” about Telegram’s claimed number of EU users, according to the Financial Times. When the time came for an update in August, Telegram did not provide specific numbers, but posted on its website:
Some non-essential elements of the services provided by Telegram may qualify as “online platforms” under the DSA. As of August 2024, these services had significantly fewer than 45 million average monthly active recipients in the EU over the preceding 6 months — which is below the threshold required for designation as a “very large online platform.”
“What we are asking for is a precise figure. Telegram merely says they are sharply below the threshold,” said Thomas Regnier, commission spokesperson on digital issues. The DSA requires that every platform give specific figures.
Since Telegram’s legal representation is based in Brussels, Belgian regulators have the power to monitor the platform—meaning that currently the Commission does not have jurisdiction over possible DSA violations. That is despite the fact Belgium faces infringement proceedings by the Commission over the national authority’s failure to be fully operational.
In parallel, the Commission’s data and science service, the Joint Research Centre, is undertaking its own work to calculate an estimate for Telegram’s user numbers, according to the Financial Times. If the EU finds that Telegram does have at least 45 million users, the platform will be designated as “very large.”
But Regnier was keen to stress there was no link between the Commission’s efforts and the French probe. “It is not for the Commission to comment on a national investigation under national criminal law. Let’s be very clear: Criminal prosecution is not among the potential sanctions for a breach of the DSA,” Regnier told AFP.
Violations under the DSA can be punished with sanctions, mainly in the form of fines. Telegram has disputed that it has gone afoul of EU rules: “Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act—its moderation is within industry standards.”
