Apple and Google sued by ex-ambassador over failure to remove Telegram from app stores

[midian182]

A hot potato: A former US ambassador to Morocco is suing Apple and Google parent Alphabet, demanding the tech giants give Telegram the Parler treatment by banning the messaging service's app from their stores.

In his suit, Marc Ginsberg, who was once Bill Clinton's ambassador to Morocco, requests that Telegram be removed from the Google Play Store and App Store because it encourages and co-ordinates violence, extremism, racism, and anti-Semitism, reports Bloomberg.

"Telegram is being used to intimidate, threaten and coerce members of the public," says Ginsberg's complaint against Apple. The Coalition for a Safer Web is a co-plaintiff in the lawsuits.

"Telegram continues to enable extremist incitement in its platform, promoting political violence as extremist groups and individuals migrate to Telegram following Apple's suspension of Parler," the complaint alleges.

Ginsberg claims that Telegram remaining on the app stores has resulted in economic loss and emotional distress for himself and others like him.

The suit highlights the companies' decision to ban Parler from their stores in the wake of the Capitol riots on January 6. The 'free speech' social network app was banned by Apple, Google, Amazon, and others for facilitating violence.

"Google has not taken any action against Telegram comparable to the action it has taken against Parler to compel Telegram to improve its content moderation policies," reads Ginsberg's complaint against Google.

Following the riots, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that its moderators had removed hundreds of posts, adding that any incitements to violence would not be tolerated.

The suits also accuse Telegram of being used as a platform to sell drugs, including cocaine. Moreover, some users allegedly urged followers of the "Parler refugees" channel to launch surprise attacks nationwide in lieu of a second protest in Washington.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88414-apple-google-sued-ex-ambassador-over-failure-remove.html

 

[Sedziwoj]

One question, why ban Telegram, if Signal have better encryption?

 

[QuantumPhysics]

How can we get violence off of social media if we can't get violence out of our hearts?

As I see it: the internet is allowing people to say hateful, violent and threatening things to other people from the cover of anonymity and distance. Social Media and comment sections are the services that conveys those messages.

How do you sue the individual services when it's the people themselves creating this environment?

YAHOO turned their comments sections off leading up to election day and left them off post inauguration day. All that does is cause people to disengage and go elsewhere to find the vent for their hate.

Why is it Facebook has us posting news articles and memes as if everyone is some damned amateur journalist? Reposting the same nonsense a billion times.

 

[stewi0001]

Why not sue the internet!

 

[Irata]

"Telegram is being used to intimidate, threaten and coerce members of the public," says Ginsberg's complaint against Apple.

That‘s different from Twitter and Tumblr how ?

 

[Hexic]

Shut down media platforms and limit free speech because you don't agree with a small portion of the content that is on the service.

Then you start controlling the media and what they can and can't say. Then you own the media. Then the government controls the narrative, and the "citizens" or denizens in reality, have no rights.

Sounds alot like... China. But it's okay if you label "racism, anti semitism, and violence" under the action.

Then it's progressive, and for the good and safety of the people - and that's just fine. We truly are incapable of learning from the past.

 

[redhat]

So after a decade or seems even less, USA people will need vpn to access internet services that are outside government control.

 

[VariableSpike]

One question, why ban Telegram, if Signal have better encryption?

Because certain governments may or may not already use it, and Telegram is "Russian", so knowing life there is some agenda from that end as well

 

[duckofdeath]

Shut down media platforms and limit free speech because you don't agree with a small portion of the content that is on the service.

Then you start controlling the media and what they can and can't say. Then you own the media. Then the government controls the narrative, and the "citizens" or denizens in reality, have no rights.

Sounds alot like... China. But it's okay if you label "racism, anti semitism, and violence" under the action.

Then it's progressive, and for the good and safety of the people - and that's just fine. We truly are incapable of learning from the past.

All media is regulated, except for the Internet.
This should have happened decades ago, instead of the nonsense, "let's have a free internet", and T#### would never have happened. "Free speech" has nothing to do with our right to post whatever we want on the internet. That's a deliberate misinterpretation. If the Internet is shut down completely, or if you're forced to only post smiley emojis, your free speech is exactly the same as it is today.

 

[Uncle Al]

Is it just me or is it starting to look like Apple & Google are getting the old "rope-a-dope" routine? Can't wait for the final count ..... 1 ... 2 ..... 3 ......

 

[Sedziwoj]

Because certain governments may or may not already use it, and Telegram is "Russian", so knowing life there is some agenda from that end as well

I think you have know idea what are you talking about. is as Russian as you are British.

 

[kimo1]

We also have Tor network which has nothing but criminal activity. Yet nobody is suing, not a single person is complaining.

 

[mbrowne5061]

Because certain governments may or may not already use it, and Telegram is "Russian", so knowing life there is some agenda from that end as well

Telegram is about as "Russian" as Etherium is though. Yeah, the founders were born there, but they left for greener pastures years ago, before launching their platforms.

 

[psycros]

All media is regulated, except for the Internet.
This should have happened decades ago, instead of the nonsense, "let's have a free internet", and T#### would never have happened. "Free speech" has nothing to do with our right to post whatever we want on the internet. That's a deliberate misinterpretation. If the Internet is shut down completely, or if you're forced to only post smiley emojis, your free speech is exactly the same as it is today.

What a brilliant piece of total self-contradiction. You may have a place in the Biden administration.

 

[candle_86]

What a brilliant piece of total self-contradiction. You may have a place in the Biden administration.

The left is emboldened as you see by their recent calls to target Trump voters for deprogramming and reeducation while seizing their children. The left won't stop until the internet is an echo chamber

 

[Nobina]

What a total cretin. You would think people in charge of anything, that are considered successful are wiser than this. Big tech is really filled with people who only understand proft and pretty much nothing else.

 

[Yad]

Parler and Telegram are not in the club of Silicon Valley so we must ban them.
Facebook and Twitter is ok because they are in the club with Zuck and Jack licking their asses.
The supposedly 6 jan protest was mainly organized on Facebook,and even Washington Post admits it.
They wont do anything to facebook now,would they?

 

[Cubi Dorf]

Big media in united state is scared of big Tech. Big media want to control public opinion, but Big Tech is increasingly get in the way. There is power struggle brewing using section 230 law.

 

[bandit8623]

How can we get violence off of social media if we can't get violence out of our hearts?

As I see it: the internet is allowing people to say hateful, violent and threatening things to other people from the cover of anonymity and distance. Social Media and comment sections are the services that conveys those messages.

How do you sue the individual services when it's the people themselves creating this environment?

YAHOO turned their comments sections off leading up to election day and left them off post inauguration day. All that does is cause people to disengage and go elsewhere to find the vent for their hate.

Why is it Facebook has us posting news articles and memes as if everyone is some damned amateur journalist? Reposting the same nonsense a billion times.

so ban all peoples opinions you disagree with..... then make them go to the dark web? there is a difference between having a good old argument and hate speech. most people online now are giant babies and cant handle a different opinion thats different from their own.

 

[bandit8623]

So after a decade or seems even less, USA people will need vpn to access internet services that are outside government control.

with how much media has control they will start blocking vpns... or get the government to band vpns. unfortunate future.