A Washington-based non-profit group called the Coalition for a Safer Web has sued Apple for not removing the Telegram app from the App Store. The group alleges that the platform is being used by hate groups and extremists to attack the Capitol. As per the group, Telegram hosts conversations of “white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other hateful content”. Reportedly, a similar suit will be filed against Google in the coming days. The suit was filed in the US District Court for Northern California.
As per the lawsuit, Apple is failing to follow its own policies and guidelines regarding app content on App Store when it comes to Telegram. And in doing so, Apple allows Telegram's more malicious users to continue their activities. The group says that the Telegram app's access has not been removed "despite Apple's knowledge that Telegram is being used to intimidate, threaten, and coerce members of the public."
In effect, the lawsuit is pressuring Apple to examine Telegram with a view to removing its access on the App Store.
The coalition president Marc Ginsberg reportedly also write to Apple CEO Tim Cook asking for Telegram to be temporarily de-platformed, due to its role in "inciting extremist violence."
The coalition's claims also alleges that "anti-black and anti-Semitic groups have openly utilised Telegram with little or no content moderation by Telegram's management," according to a report by Apple Insider.
The lawsuit additionally claims that Telegram is being used to "coordinate and incite extreme violence" before Inauguration Day 2021. "Some users have called on followers to abandon plans for a second protest in Washington in favor of surprise attacks nationwide," the filing claims.
(Also read: YouTube extends ban on new video added to Donald Trump's channel due to potential for inciting violence)
The coalition's lawsuit comes days after Apple, Google, Amazon, and others cut ties to Parler for failing to manage the content in the app generated by its users.
source https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/apple-sued-for-not-removing-telegram-from-app-store-group-claims-app-has-hateful-content-9219981.html
