Justice Min. working on plan against drug sales on Telegram

Outgoing Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz of Justice and Security is working on an approach to tackle drug sales on Telegram, she said in response to questions from parliament. She called it “shocking” how many drug dealers are selling on the encrypted messaging service. “The approach to this is complex, and the development of a good and supported plan takes time,” she added, NOS reports.

Yeşilgöz’s favorite option would be to focus on the “self-cleaning ability” also applied by other social media platforms. That is an “adequate moderation policy” that ensures that the administrators of public groups remove illegal content. “I am also committed to that at Telegram.”

But so far, with little success, she acknowledged. It is challenging to get in touch with Telegram, and the social media platform shows “little willingness to cooperate in the context of self-regulation and criminal investigations.”

Tackling this problem via Dutch criminal law is challenging because Telegram is a global social network with millions of users, the Justice Minister wrote. Nevertheless, she is conducting “exploratory discussions” with the police and Public Prosecution Service “with the aim of drawing up an action plan for enforcement of the online sale of prohibited substances.”

She sees more options in getting Telegram to adhere to the responsibilities arising from European legislation for social media, like the Digital Services Act that took effect last month.