Dutch expertise center convinces Telegram to take slut-shaming "bang lists" offline

Telegram has taken down slut-shaming bang lists, reported online abuse expertise center Offlimits. After several unsuccessful requests to Telegram to remove the lists, Offlimits filed an enforcement request with the regulators. And successfully, because the bang lists have been taken offline on the messaging platform.

“It took a lot of effort, but we are happy that the bang lists are finally offline,” said Offlimits director Robbert Hoving. He hopes it will give the victims “some peace” and help them “get their lives back on track.”

This spring it came to light that bang lists were circulating among members of the Utrecht Student Corps. On these lists, students rank members of the Utrecht Female Student Association based on their appearance and sexual performance. They also often shared the women’s private information.

Ina Brouwer, the lawyer representing the female Utrecht students, no longer sees the bang lists in public Dutch Telegram groups. “But we are not reassured by what happens in non-public groups. You can sometimes see from the name of a closed group that bang lists are being shared there. Telegram has now taken the first step. We will now see what is needed to clean up Telegram even further.”

Telegram has also promised that Offlimits can send reports via a separate channel so that the chat app can quickly take illegal and unlawful content offline. The expertise center hopes that this will make it more difficult to place bang lists in the future and that, if it does happen, they can be taken down much faster.

“With these agreements, we can help people who experience something bad on Telegram much better. In the coming period, we will closely monitor whether Telegram keeps its promises and really starts to behave as a responsible platform,” Hoving said.