TELEGRAM FINED $5 MILLION BY GERMANY FOR NOT COMPLYING WITH THE LAW

Wed 19 October 2022:

Telegram, a messaging app, has been fined €5.125 million ($5 million) by Germany for breaking the country’s social network laws.

The messaging app has not established a complaints management system, according to a statement from the Federal Office of Justice, and it has not designated a German citizen who is qualified to handle requests for information from law enforcement.

The NetzDG, or Network Enforcement Act, of Germany requires social media companies to set up a complaint process and take action against hate speech, false news, and other content that is punishable by law.

The Federal Office of Justice said despite several attempts to deliver official documents to Telegram’s headquarters in Dubai, and legal assistance from authorities in the United Arab Emirates, it could not get a positive response from the messaging platform.

Telegram must now pay a €4.25 million fine for not initiating a complaints management system, and €875,000 fine for not naming a person in Germany authorized to receive requests, the federal office said.

Germany’s Justice Minister Marco Buschmann has welcomed the punitive measure against Telegram.

“Our laws apply to everyone,” he said in a statement and slammed the Dubai-based messenger service for not complying with the law.

“You cannot evade legal requirements and your responsibility by trying to be unreachable. I’m glad that our commitment has brought us one step further,” he added.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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