Telegram illegal content banned as The Advertiser uncovers drug dealers ready to deliver to schools

The makers of the controversial messaging app say illegal content is not allowed on their platform. But it didn’t take The Advertiser long to find drug dealers ready to deliver.

The social media site where South Australian children as young as 12 are buying MDMA and cocaine from dealers has shirked responsibility for criminal activity by users on its platform as it launched initiatives to block illegal content.

It comes as The Advertiser went on to social media messaging app Telegram and posed as an underage high school student, engaging with four drug dealers who had advertised their illicit items on group pages.

The Advertiser did not purchase any of the drugs, nor meet up with any of the dealers with whom we had discussions on the platform.

The Advertiser revealed drug dealers had been using Telegram to sell drugs to SA children. Picture: AFP

An Adelaide high school teacher told The Advertiser students as young as 12 were being caught under the influence of drugs at his school. He said many were buying from dealers on the encrypted social media app.

In a statement to The Advertiser, Telegram said removing harmful content was the platform’s “top priority for 2024”.

“In late August, a team of moderators scanned through publicly available groups and channels, removed all problematic content from the platform and deletes any new harmful content as it is created,” the company said.

The platform also has a new automated service which users can report search terms “in any language which may be used to find illegal content”.

Chief executive of Telegram Paul Durov said his app is not “some sort of anarchic paradise”. Picture: Steve Jennings/Getty/AFP

In statement in September following Telegram’s Russian chief executive Pavel Durov’s arrest by French authorities over criminal activity by users on the platform, he hit back at countries holding tech company heads responsible.

Mr Durov was hit with preliminary charges relating to “complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organised group”.

“Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,” Mr Durov said.

“No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools.”

Mr Durov continued that “establishing the balance between privacy and security is not easy”.

“We’ve been committed to engaging with regulators to find the right balance,” he said.

“Sometimes we can’t agree with a country’s regulator on the right balance between privacy and security.”

He acknowledged that while “Telegram is not perfect” but hit back at claims it is “some sort of anarchic paradise”.