Will India Ban Telegram? Inside the Arrest of CEO Pavel Durov and Ongoing Criminal Investigations
The post Will India Ban Telegram? Inside the Arrest of CEO Pavel Durov and Ongoing Criminal Investigations appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
Less than a week after the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France over the weekend, a report has emerged that the Indian government is investigating the messaging platform over alleged criminal activities, including extortion and gambling.
The ongoing probe on Telegram in India, which does not have a physical operating office in the country, is being conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
However, MeitY highlighted that the Telegram platform has complied with IT rules, including publishing monthly compliance reports.
Trouble for the Toncoin Ecosystem?
The arrest of Durov in Paris and the ongoing investigation of the Telegram platform in India will have negative publicity for the Toncoin ecosystem. Already, Toncoin has been outshined by Dogecoin (DOGE) and Tron (TRX) following the ongoing investigation of Durov in Paris.
According to the latest market data, TON’s price has slipped over 20 percent in the past seven days, trading at about $5.43 on Tuesday.
Speculations of a possible closure of Telegram in various jurisdictions have caused the Toncoin community to be worried about the long-term implications. Moreover, most Toncoin-based web3 projects – including Hamster Combat and Notcoin (NOT) – rely on Telegram to attract more users over time.
As a result, it will be prudent for TON holders to closely monitor the outcome of the Durov investigations in France and Telegram’s probe in India.
Bigger Picture
Activists for freedom of speech led by tech billionaire Elon Musk have strongly condemned the attack on Telegram. Furthermore, Telegram has been largely adopted in place of Meta’s WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has admitted to content suppression.
