[EU investigates Telegram over user numbers] On August 30, the Financial Times reported that Brussels is investigating whether Telegram violated the EU's digital regulations by failing to provide accurate user numbers, and officials are pushing to put the controversial messaging app under stricter regulation. EU legal and data experts suspect that the app has underreported its number of users in the EU to keep it below the 45 million threshold, and large online platforms above this threshold will be subject to a series of regulations from Brussels aimed at limiting their influence. The EU investigation is running in parallel with France's extensive investigation into alleged criminal activities on Telegram, which led to the arrest of its founder, Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov, on Saturday. On Wednesday evening, a magistrate will decide whether to bring charges or release him. Telegram said Durov "has nothing to hide." Durov now has French and UAE citizenship. Telegram said in February that it had 41 million users in the EU. Under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), Telegram was supposed to provide updated numbers this month, but it did not, announcing instead that its "average number of monthly active users in the EU is well below 45 million." Two EU officials said the failure to provide new data put Telegram in violation of the DSA, adding that an EU investigation could find the true number is higher than the threshold set for "very large online platforms." Such a designation brings greater compliance and content moderation obligations, third-party audits, and mandatory data-sharing with the European Commission.
