Telegram’s algorithm is recommending extremist content to users who are browsing the platform for mundane topics according to a study by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a US-based civil rights organisation.
As part of the study titled ‘Telegram’s Toxic Recommendations’ and first reported by the BBC, SPLC researchers analysed over 28,000 Telegram channels to find that users in search of celebrity or technology-related content would run into extreme content.
For instance, users who have newly signed up on Telegram can search for ‘Donald Trump’ and see multiple channels promoting the Q-Anon conspiracy in the “similar channels” section of the platform. A similar search for the phrase ‘UK riots’ shored up an Adolf Hitler meme as the first result, along with user recommendations to follow Telegram channels operated by violent far-right groups, as per the SPLC study.
Additionally, the study found that Telegram users engaging with some form of extreme content such as anti-government conspiracies were shown content related to other extremist ideologies such as antisemitism and white nationalism.
“Some of these groups are pretty active. You’re not just on Telegram getting memes, you’re getting shuffled into actual events. They’re having events on the ground with people showing up,” Megan Squire, a leading researcher at SPLC, was quoted as saying by the UK broadcaster.
The messaging app has drawn flak several times in the past for its Channels feature that lets users add up to 2,00,000 people in groups and broadcast content to them.
Ghost guns, scamming tools ‘for sale’ on Telegram
Users can reportedly find sellers of ammunition such as an Uzi submachine gun on Telegram within moments.
“Telegram is definitely one of the most important platforms criminals are using now for criminality,” Professor David Maimon from Georgia State University, US, was quoted as saying.
He reportedly demonstrated to the BBC how a seller posted a picture of an Uzi gun and said he could fast-track the shipping of the weapon to reach the user’s destination in the next two to three days.
How Telegram responded
Emphasising that it takes down millions of pieces of content on a daily basis, Telegram said that users are “only presented with content they have chosen to engage with”
“The ‘channel suggestions’ feature shows only channels with the same topic as those a user already follows. This approach ensures that users are only presented with content they have chosen to engage with. This is completely different from how other platforms make suggestions,” the company said.
The platform added that it does not amplify content, but shows topic-based suggestions tied to user choices.
Earlier this year, Telegram CEO and co-founder Pavel Durov was placed under arrest at an airport in France for allegedly failing to stop criminality on the platform. He has denied the allegations and is currently out on bail.
Amid the probe by French authorities, Telegram backed down from its hard-line stance of not cooperating with law enforcement agencies and said that it will start sharing user data such as IP addresses and phone numbers in response to valid search warrants or legal requests from authorities.
