Photographer: Brent Lewin / Bloomberg
Photographer: Brent Lewin / Bloomberg
A former U.S. ambassador wants Google to do to Telegram what it did with Parler.
Marc Ginsberg sued the Alphabet Unit Inc. Monday, asking a California court to require her to withdraw the file Google Play Store Telegram Messenger app for facilitating violence, extremism and anti-Semitism.
Telegram, especially in the wake of the assassination of George Floyd and the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, has been used to threaten, encourage and coordinate racist violence, says Ginsberg, who was Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Morocco. He noted that after the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Google suspended it Speak from your app store because several users on your right expressed support for the siege and violence.
“Google has not taken any action against Telegram comparable to the action it has taken against Parler to force Telegram to improve its content moderation policies,” says Ginsberg’s lawsuit. On Jan. 17, he filed a similar complaint against Apple Inc., which had also withdrawn Parler from its app store after the riot.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for email feedback. Telegram also did not immediately respond to any email search messages. Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, he said last week that the company’s moderators had removed hundreds of posts in the wake of the Capitol revolt and that the call for violence would not be tolerated.
“Talking refugees”
Amazon.com Inc. cited his own concerns about Parler’s violent content pulling plug from 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. i Facebook Inc. has spurred a wide-ranging debate on the control and responsibilities of the technology industry over speech.
A channel in Telegram is dedicated to “Parler refugees.” Some Telegram users urged supporters to abandon plans for a second protest in Washington in support of Trump in favor of surprise attacks across the country, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also accuses Telegram of serving as a platform for the sale of illegal and controlled substances, 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 one Web, who also figures as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, says he pushes social media platforms to end their tolerance of anti-Semitism and the possibility of extremist groups.
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(Updates with similar lawsuit against Apple in the fourth paragraph.)