Ofcom investigates Telegram and teen chat sites

Ofcom has launched an investigation into Telegram under the UK’s Online Safety Act, to examine whether it is complying with its duties to prevent child sexual abuse material being shared.  

The UK’s online safety watchdog has also opened investigations into Teen Chat and Chat Avenue to examine whether they are meeting their duties to prevent children from the risk of being groomed by predators. 

Additionally, they have provided updates on file-sharing services that are now either using hash-matching technology to detect and swiftly remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or have taken steps to prevent people in the UK from accessing their sites.  

Suzanne Cater, Director of Enforcement at Ofcom, said: “Child sexual exploitation and abuse causes devastating harm to victims, and making sure sites and apps tackle this is one of our highest priorities. It’s why we work so closely with partners in law enforcement and child protection organisations to identify where these harms are occurring and hold providers to account where they’re failing to meet their obligations. 

“Progress has undeniably been made, particularly with file-sharing services, which are too often used to share horrific child sexual abuse imagery. But this problem extends to big platforms too, and teen-focused chat services are too easily being used by predators to groom children. These firms must do more to protect children, or face serious consequences under the Online Safety Act.”

It is illegal in the UK to share or be in possession of CSAM. Under the UK’s Online Safety Act, providers of ‘user-to-user’ services are required to assess and mitigate the risk of this horrific crime being perpetrated on their platforms.^[1] 

Ofcom work closely with law enforcement agencies and other organisations to identify platforms that are particularly susceptible to being used by offenders for the sharing of image-based CSAM. 

Ofcom received evidence from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection regarding the alleged presence and sharing of child sexual abuse material on Telegram, and carried out our own assessment of the platform. In light of this, Ofcom have decided to open an investigation to examine whether Telegram has failed, or is failing, to comply with its duties in relation to illegal content.  

The sexual exploitation and abuse of children online has devastating consequences for those affected. Online grooming crimes against children can include coercing a child to send sexual images of themselves, sexual extortion, and arranging in-person sexual abuse of a child.

Ofcom works with child protection agencies to identify services that present particular risks of grooming. This work has raised concerns about the risk to children on two chat services called Teen Chat and Chat Avenue, which have open chatrooms, private messaging, profile creation and media sharing functionalities. 

Ofcom has engaged with representatives of the providers of these services to try and address these concerns. However, we remain unsatisfied as to whether they are providing adequate protection to UK children from the risk of grooming. 

They have therefore opened investigations into whether the providers of Teen Chat and Chat Avenue are taking appropriate steps to assess and mitigate the risk of UK users encountering illegal content and activity, including grooming. The investigation into Chat Avenue will also consider whether the provider is taking adequate steps to prevent children from encountering harmful content, including pornography, on the site.

Further details – https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/ofcom-investigates-telegram-and-teen-chat-sites