The Madras High Court has instructed Telegram to block and delete channels that impersonate PhonePe, India’s fintech major owned by Walmart. These fake channels were scamming users by redirecting payments meant for PhonePe, causing financial losses to the company and its users. PhonePe had filed a lawsuit against Telegram, seeking damages and an injunction to stop the scams.
In response to the lawsuit, Telegram’s counsel stated that the platform cannot proactively identify and block such impersonations. However, Telegram assured the court that it would block and delete these channels upon receiving complaints from users and PhonePe. The court accepted this submission and directed Telegram to promptly address any complaints raised by PhonePe regarding impersonating channels.
Justice K Kumaresh Babu has instructed PhonePe to report any instances of spoofed content or copyright infringement on Telegram, providing the specific URLs of the offending posts, and enabling Telegram to promptly block them.
“Mr Thriyambak J Kannan, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the first respondents/defendants would submit that it would be difficult for them to block the posting even at the initial stage and would submit that as and when such postings are made and it is brought to the notice of the second respondent, the same would be blocked immediately.” the court order reads
The learned counsel appearing for the applicant/ plaintiff also submits that as and when it comes to their notice they would immediately inform the first respondent through E-mail and the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the first respondent also undertakes that as and when the E-mail is received, such posting will be removed/ blocked forthwith.
Considering the fact that the application is filed to grant interim injunction in respect of the second respondent, the first respondent shall also furnish the I.P. address of the Url., & channel for which the request for blocking had arisen.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that the court’s directive for PhonePe to report instances of spoofed content or copyright infringement and provide specific URLs will facilitate prompt blocking of offending posts. This collaborative approach aims to safeguard PhonePe users from financial scams and maintain the integrity of digital payments.
Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov was arrested by French authorities back in August on account of allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police.
