Telegram FZCO — Ethics Grade D

Telegram FZCO receives an overall ethics grade of D (28/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Social Media. Market cap: Mid Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 50
• privacy: 30
• consumer: 20
• environment: 70
• humanRights: 40

Documented incidents (3)

• Moderation and Child Safety Failures (high, 2024) — CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France over allegations that the platform failed to cooperate with law enforcement and allowed criminal activity, including CSAM and drug trafficking.
• Illegal Token Offering (high, 2020) — The SEC halted Telegram's 'Gram' token sale after finding it violated securities laws, forcing the return of $1.2 billion to investors.
• Misleading Security Claims (medium, 2023) — Security researchers criticized Telegram for not using end-to-end encryption by default and storing user messages on its own servers.

Documented good deeds

• Anti-Censorship Tools — Provided proxy tools to help users in authoritarian regimes bypass internet shutdowns and access information.

Ethical alternatives

• Signal Messenger — Open-source, non-profit with industry-leading encryption and zero data collection.