EU investigating if Telegram played down user numbers to avoid regulation

Brussels is investigating whether Telegram breached EU digital rules by failing to provide accurate user numbers, as officials push to bring the controversial messaging app under stricter supervision.

EU legal and data experts suspect that the app has understated its presence in the EU to stay under a 45 million user threshold, above which large online platforms are subject to a swath of Brussels regulations designed to check their influence.

The EU probe comes alongside a wide-ranging French investigation into alleged criminal activity on Telegram that led to the arrest on Saturday of its founder, Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov. On Wednesday evening, a magistrate was due to decide whether to charge or release him.