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Apple is being sued by the Coalition for a Safer Web for failing to remove access to Telegram while still blocking Talk, and also alleging that it is being used by hate groups and extremists to attack the Capitol.
Filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Sunday, the lawsuit against Ambassador Marc Ginsberg and the Safer Web Coalition charges Apple with allowing Telegram to be available in the App Store. This “despite Apple’s knowledge that Telegram is used to intimidate, threaten and coerce members of the public.”
Billed as a “non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization” to force the removal of extremist and terrorist content from social media platforms, the Coalition says Apple is not following its own policies and guidelines regarding content in applications. relationship with Telegram. In doing so, Apple allows the most malicious users of Telegram to continue their activities.
The lawsuit comes at the end of a week when Apple, Google, Amazon and others cut ties with Parler for failing to handle the app’s user-generated content. The app was reportedly used to plan and coordinate illegal activity in Washington DC, including the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Indeed, the lawsuit puts pressure on Apple to take a close look at Telegram for dismantling the encrypted messaging app, for allegedly carrying out similar activities.
According to a June 2020 CSW press release cited by the lawsuit, Telegram is used as “a channel of communication for the Russian government and affiliated neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups, sowing disinformation and racial division in the United States and in Europe”. “
Ginsberg also wrote to Apple CEO Tim Cook on behalf of CSW in July, asking that Telegram be temporarily dismantled, due to its role in “inciting extremist violence”.
There is also the charge that “anti-black and anti-Semitic groups have openly used Telegram with little or no moderation of the content by the management of Telegram.” Despite CSW warnings and media reports on the app, Apple “has taken no action against Telegram comparable to the action it has taken against Parler to force Telegram to improve its content moderation policies.” .
The lawsuit also alleges that Telegram is being used to “coordinate and incite extreme violence” prior to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. “Some users have called on followers to drop plans for a second protest in Washington in favor of surprise attacks across the country,” the file said.
It is also mentioned how Ginsberg suffered emotional distress and anxiety due to misinformation and incitement to violence against Jews. As Ginsberg is both Jewish and in the public eye, he is forced to “live with apprehension of the religiously motivated violence perpetrated against him,” making him fear for his life and that of his family.
The lawsuit also cites an injustice in the way Apple enforces its rules, citing both the removal of Parler and that of “Fortnite” from Epic Games, for violating its guidelines. Meanwhile, using Telegram has reportedly violated App Store guidelines since the app launched in 2013, in various ways.
In the case of the Telegram developers, the CSW says they have “taken no significant action to curb these egregious, systematic and continuing violations of the respondent’s enforcement guidelines by Telegram users.”
The lawsuit demands a jury trial and asks the court to provide compensatory damages to each plaintiff, an injunction to be granted banning Telegram from the App Store until it complies with Apple’s guidelines and charges of justice.
Telegram has a spotty history with Apple regarding its users and the content hosted on the service, with Apple removing access in 2018 due to the presence of child pornography. In October, Apple requested the removal of messages related to protests in Belarus.
In April 2018, Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor ordered Apple to suspend downloads from Telegram, in part due to the app developers’ refusal to hand over the encryption keys to the government, as required by Russian law. While the political ban prevented updates to the app for a while, Apple approved updates to the app in June of that year.
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