Photographer: Brent Lewin / Bloomberg
Photographer: Brent Lewin / Bloomberg
A former US ambassador wants Google to do to Telegram what Parler did.
Marc Ginsberg sues the Alphabet Inc. unit Monday, asks a court in California to demand that it be removed Telegram Messenger app from the Google Play Store because it facilitates violence, extremism and anti-Semitism.
Telegrams, especially in the wake of George Floyd’s assassination and the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, are being used to threaten, encourage and coordinate racist violence, claims Ginsberg, who was Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Morocco. He pointed out that Google suspended the US Capitol after the January 6 riots. Parler of his app store because a number of his right-wing users have expressed support for the siege and further violence.
“Google has not taken any action against Telegram that is comparable to the action against Parler to force Telegram to improve its content moderation policy,” says Ginsberg. He filed a similar complaint against Apple Inc. on January 17, which Parler also removed from his app store after the riot.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Telegram also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, said last week that the company’s moderators had removed hundreds of posts after the riot in Capitol and that calls for violence would not be tolerated.
‘Parler Refugees’
Amazon.com Inc. expressed its own concern about Parler’s violent content to pull the plug of the platform’s web hosting service. The actions taken against Parler, as well as the ban on former President Donald Trump and others Twitter Inc. and Facebook has sparked a wide-ranging debate over the technology industry’s control and responsibilities over speech.
A channel on Telegram is dedicated to ‘Parler refugees’. Some Telegram users have urged followers to drop plans for a second demonstration in Washington in support of Trump in favor of surprise attacks nationwide, according to the lawsuit.
Telegram is also accused of serving as a platform for the sale of illegal and controlled drugs, including LSD and cocaine.
Ginsberg, who is Jewish and raised in Israel, says in the lawsuit that he was the target of two assassination attempts because of his religious beliefs. His coalition for a safer Web, who is also listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, says it is pushing social media platforms to end their tolerance of anti-Semitism and activism of extremist groups.
Read more: Telegram CEO says the app will start generating revenue next year
(Updates with similar lawsuit against Apple in fourth paragraph.)