On December 4, 2024, Telegram announced a new initiative to combat child exploitation by scanning shared images for child pornography, partnering with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). This marks a significant change for the platform, which has over 950 million monthly users. The collaboration aims to enhance detection and removal of abusive content, applying advanced tools to both public channels and private messages. This step follows ongoing concerns about child abuse imagery and represents a commitment to improved child safety measures.
Telegram’s New Initiative Against Child Exploitation
On December 4, 2024, Telegram announced a pivotal shift in its approach to tackling child exploitation on its platform. Although this development was not highlighted among the new features unveiled, it marks a significant step as the messaging service will now scan images shared within its ecosystem to identify and combat child pornography.
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, did not specifically address this initiative on social media. The announcement came through the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK-based non-profit organization dedicated to child protection online. Until now, Telegram had refrained from joining such protective measures.
Enhanced Detection and Removal of Harmful Content
This initiative is notable as it represents the first time this widely-used platform, boasting over 950 million active users each month, will utilize IWF’s advanced tools and datasets. This collaboration aims to detect, disrupt, and eliminate images depicting child sexual abuse.
Telegram’s membership in the IWF aligns with efforts from other tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Snapchat, and TikTok, all of which are already part of similar initiatives. The IWF has confirmed that Telegram will benefit from access to its cutting-edge datasets and proven technologies to enhance its fight against child abuse imagery.
With this proactive measure, there is potential for additional partnerships between Telegram and other organizations focused on child safety in the near future. The IWF employs digital signatures of previously identified child pornography to aid in the identification process, sharing this information with law enforcement and partners for comparison against circulating content.
The scanning process will apply to public channels as well as private messages and group chats. Notably, Telegram does not default to end-to-end encryption, allowing for easier monitoring of exchanges, although users can opt for this feature.
This shift towards a more robust moderation strategy is welcomed, albeit seen as overdue. The IWF recalls reporting thousands of instances of child abuse imagery on Telegram since 2022, including distressing cases involving very young children. While Telegram took action post-reports from the IWF, the urgency of the situation necessitated a more proactive stance.
Besides utilizing digital fingerprints from child pornography databases, Telegram is also committed to addressing generative AI creations depicting minors and links to external sites hosting such content. This partnership signifies a marked change in Telegram’s operations, particularly following legal troubles faced by Durov in France regarding his platform’s role in distributing child pornography.
Since then, Telegram has enhanced its moderation efforts, with increased responsiveness to law enforcement requests, including sharing users’ IP addresses. Durov has vowed to take significant actions to improve the platform’s stance on child safety moving forward.