A new controversy could cause Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store, as it has received a lawsuit that asks that it be expelled from the iPhone and iPad store. Telegram is accused of allowing violence, hate speech and even serving for the organization of extremist groups.
The complaint was filed by the so-called Coalition for a Safer Web (“Coalition for a Safe Web” in Spanish), which considers that Telegram has been violating the rules of the App Store for years. Ask to remove the app now in the wake of the assault on the US Capitol in early January.
We already learned that some Parler users are switching to Telegram after Parler has been removed from the Apple and Google stores for its links to the far right.
The lawsuit filed is not against Telegram, but against Apple, for not expelling it from the store. The Coalition for a Safer Web sees Telegram as a home to threats, incitement to violence, racism, anti-Semitism, and even soft supremacism.
He also claims that Telegram was used by the organizers of the assault on the Capitol to make the attack a reality. Other accusations are more debatable, such as that the Russian government uses it in its communications.
Everything indicates that Russia does not spy on us through Telegram, since the application has been banned in the country, and its founder has gone into exile, taking the servers to Dubai, so there would be no type of collaboration.
In fact, at the time Russia also demanded that Telegram be removed from the App Store, as its creators did not agree to hand over the encryption keys to read the messages. Back then, Apple paused updates for a few days, but ultimately did not comply with the order.
On the other hand, in 2018 we did see that Telegram disappeared from the App Store. Some private user groups were sharing child abuse material, and Apple did not accept Telegram in the store until all that illegal content was deleted.
The complaint of the Coalition for a Safer Web was presented in California (there is the headquarters of Apple), and we will have to see the result. It would be very serious if Apple were to eliminate Telegram from the App Store, and most likely the messaging app will limit itself to tightening the moderation of messages and groups.