Beyond the privacy battle: A look at Telegram vs. WhatsApp from the CSAM Trust & Safety perspective

Author: Carolina Christofoletti

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Have you ever asked yourself why WhatsApp does not figure out in the NCMEC 2020’s Electronic Service Providers Report List, where Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) data is expected to appear or why WhatsApp does not have their own Transparency Report showing this data? Have you ever asked yourself why, even though WhatsApp is Facebook’s daughter from a legal point of view, Facebook Transparency Center only display Facebook and Instagram Child Nudity and Child Sexual Exploitation Data? Well, I have, and I have been struggling with that for a while.

I have three hypotheses of how things are going on in WhatsApp, and I am expected to have the data of two of them. Prior to entering those questions, I would like but to point you out something else I am struggling with: Telegram CSAM daily report numbers. For whoever know this data, we must highlight that Telegram is reporting not CSAM by numbers, but by groups.

Both Telegram and WhatsApp are, I would say, competitors on the same marketing: Direct messaging. While Telegram’s cryptography comes only to the so-called secret chats, WhatsApp is encrypted by design. But I am afraid that the argument does not die with the cryptography only: The design goes

While we wait the answer of my Data Request, we can already start analysing some interesting features. Keep in mind that everything that helps criminals helps, at some point, law enforcement authorities also.

1.    While Telegram lets you search publicly groups, WhatsApp does not. Maybe, this function exists for Trust and Safety Teams, even though I have not found it anywhere written.

2.    While Telegram lets you set a time gap for new members to join through invitation links, WhatsApp links are eternal.

3.    While Telegram has super group administrations that can control not only who enters, but what message stays, WhatsApp admins control are killed forever, once the “invitation link” function was habilitated.

4.    Once WhatsApp or Telegram groups are created, you are able to join it as long as it exists. As I have no group that was ever removed for any WhatsApp or Telegram Policy violations, I could not test it. What I have seen but is that, in both cases, even when groups have become a two people messaging window, I was able to “recreate” the group back!

5.    While Telegram allows anonymous Admins to exist, WhatsApp will notify who removed you from the group if you are ever removed.

Does it change anything?

For any criminal lawyer analysing this case and where the report numbers are will guess that, very probably, there are anywhere (I would call it fear of reporting) or that, when they are reported, the report has already jumped a degree. That means that who is reporting it is not who has initially found it but a third part who has received this information and, without anything incriminating and being an ethical citizen, decides to report it. You may agree with me that this feature mines, almost per se, the achievable quality of those reports.

I will address WhatsApp case somewhere else, needing to cross it with two other places, at least, where the problem appears in a crossed way: Search engines (ex. Google, mainly) and other social media (ex. Telegram, with search groups engine).

Something to start thinking about a problem for which coming with a proposed solution for that is urgent.