Apple has been criticised in some quarters for taking down Parler, which was used by some right-wing extremists to indulge their fantasies of insurrection, from the App Store. But others feel that Apple hasn’t gone far enough, arguing that hate and agitation are also thriving in Telegram, which is still available via the App Store.
According to a report by AppleInsider, Ambassador Marc Ginsberg and the Coalition for a Safer Web (CSW) filed a lawsuit against Apple on Sunday at the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Telegram can still be downloaded from the App Store “despite Apple’s knowledge that Telegram is being used to intimidate, threaten, and coerce members of the public,” the suit argues.
Ginsberg pointed out to Apple CEO Tim Cook in a letter last July that Telegram was engaging in “extremist violence” and should therefore no longer have a platform. CSW regards Telegram as a “communications channel for the Russian government and affiliated Neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups, sowing misinformation and racial division in the United States and in Europe”.
The lawsuit aims to force Apple to check Telegram more closely for violations of the App Store’s terms of use and potentially to take similar measures as it did against Parler.
The CSW paints itself as a “non-partisan non-profit organisation” that has set itself the goal of banning terrorist content from social media.
This article originally appeared on Macwelt. Translation by David Price.
