Telegram apologizes and removes 25 pieces of sexually exploitative material from its platform

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At the request of the South Korean government, administrators of the chat app Telegram have removed 25 pieces of content considered illegal sexual exploitation material.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) announced on Tuesday that Telegram has removed all relevant obscene content that the commission had urgently requested to be removed.

“Telegram today apologized and added that its operators want to build a relationship of trust with the commission,” the KCSC said.

On Sunday, the KCSC compiled a list of 25 pieces of content that needed to be removed with the highest priority, and then sent an urgent request to Telegram to remove and delete the content.

According to the KCSC, Telegram sent an email from its regional manager for Southeast Asia, saying the company learned from media reports that South Korea is experiencing issues “in dealing with illegal content on our platform.”

The email would describe the current situation as very unfortunate and would apologize for any misunderstandings with the KCSC.

The message expressed hope that a relationship of trust can be built between Telegram and the commission, making the platform safer for users, before providing a separate email address for further communication in the future.

The email previously received by the KCSC claimed that it was impossible for the platform’s operators to track down the malicious content reported by the Korean government.

On August 28, the KCSC announced plans to set up a hotline for reporting incidents of illegal sexual content, particularly on platforms like Telegram, to streamline the process of requesting removals for platform operators. The KCSC also pledged to increase cooperation with foreign platforms like Google and X (formerly Twitter).

By Sun Dam-eun, reporter

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