What is Telegram, and who uses it: exploring compliance risks
Recently, the Telegram app has come under fire for becoming the preferred online space for online criminals, due to its focus on privacy. In fact, a recent viral article compared the app to the dark web. So it’s clear that regulated companies must tread carefully around its rules and guide staff through Telegram use.
Written by a human
An overview of the Telegram app
The Telegram app is a free messaging app, powered by cloud technology. With both direct messaging and chat rooms, Telegram is most-often used as an alternative to WhatsApp. It’s widely used in India and Russia, with over 950 million users as of July 2024.
Telegram groups hold up to 200,000 members, and have no limits to the size of messages, or the multimedia content included in them. Syncing chats from multiple devices, the Telegram API is open to the public, which means that users can integrate various tools and payment systems into their chats.
What’s the history of Telegram?
Telegram was first developed by Pavel Durov, dubbed Russia’s ‘Zuckerberg’, in 2013.
Pavel had originally created a different social media platform back in 2006, but was facing increased pressure from the Russian government to share certain sensitive user data. He fled Russia and moved to Dubai for the launch of Telegram, which worsened relations.
Telegram has a twisted history with political parties. It was banned by the Russian government between 2018 – 2020 as news circulating on the app directly opposed state media. Later in 2022, Telegram retaliated by banning Russian state media.
Further controversy surrounded Telegram when Pavel was arrested in France in August 2024 by an agency founded to prevent violence against minors. With the high levels of privacy within the app, it’s become the preferred way for criminals to communicate and the French authorities held Pavel responsible.
Since the arrest, Telegram has increased self-report capabilities for users and combed through the network to remove harmful content.
Telegram use cases in business
- Telegram chatbots
- Customer service channel
- Promotion and advertising
Telegram chatbots
Thanks to the open API, Telegram channels can be automatically updated as your company makes progress, or wants to communicate with customers. In particular, the WordPress Telegram bot enables businesses to generate logical, automated responses to customer queries based on keyword triggers.
This chatbot use case can be beneficial as it’s completely free, and allows for detailed customer segmentation based on interactions. It’ll also allow you to stay connected to your audience, and advertise directly to their devices whenever you want to.
Customer service channel
For one-on-one customer service, Telegram again provides direct access to customers through their phones. Its automated and instant nature means that customers are more likely to be satisfied, as they receive responses in real-time without waiting for a callback.
Promotion and advertising
Telegram can be used as a direct sales channel by businesses. The Washington Post cleverly generates leads through Telegram by drip-feeding content to pique the interest of readers.
Their team regularly posts the headlines to Telegram channels, but in order to access the full article, users are sent to the website. This is where they are required to become a paid subscriber.
What are the biggest compliance risks of Telegram?
It’s widely known that Pavel and the Telegram team have not conformed to global regulatory standards when building the app. But for regulated companies, this creates significant risks, including:
- Self-destruct: messages are heavily encrypted anyway, but on ‘secret’ mode, they can be set to self-destruct, meaning they can never be accessed or stored again. This directly violates regulations like the SEC’s rule 17a-4, books and records.
- End-to-end: the app does not rely on end-to-end encryption, unlike Global Relay’s connectors or WhatsApp, which does lead to security queries. For brands using Telegram to communicate internally, there may be questions over confidentiality.
- Lack of transparency: Telegram has a history of refusing to provide chat and user information to law enforcement, and only recently agreed to begin providing data with regards to terrorist cases. This leaves plenty of other crimes potentially occurring through the platform, and no way for companies to oversee who is involved.
- Open API: there is potential for organized criminals to integrate payment methods into the platform and commit fraud against legitimate companies.
Meeting compliance expectations
The easiest way for regulated companies to avoid the compliance risks of Telegram is to not allow use of the app. However, connecting with customers in India and Russia may be part of your overall business strategy, which means finding ways to use Telegram responsibly.
Create a usage policy
Without end-to-end encryption, most regulated companies find that Telegram is not the place for sensitive or confidential information sharing between colleagues. Instead, guide users about what is ok to share through the app, such as direct customer support or promotional posts.
Moreover, usage policies should include rules around the self-destruct messages to avoid non-compliance with books and records rules.
Monitor communications
One of the positives of the open API is that regulated companies are able to link recording apps to Telegram. This enables more oversight than the standalone app, and gives your compliance team a channel to effectively monitor and store communications.
Get help from a regulatory intelligence firm
Global Relay exists to help firms comply without compromise. If Telegram is part of your communications strategy, we can help you to mitigate risk and stay ahead of the regulation. We build high-performance data connectors to capture communications from any channel, and host an archive that meets even the strictest of regulatory requirements.
Demo Global Relay’s product suite to see how we can help you make the most out of Telegram.
FAQs
Who uses Telegram the most?
The Telegram app is most popular in Russia and India. It’s used by friends and family who want to stay in touch, but it’s also used by businesses who want to access their customers through a new channel.
Celebrities who use Telegram?
While it’s not clear if the celebrities are behind these channels, there are Telegram channels dedicated to celebrities like Jenna Ortega, Shakira, Dua Lipa and Selina Gomez.