There are no more people nearby

In Telegram, the function to search for those who are nearby ceased to work. Who used it and why?

Users of telegram from Russia, Ukraine, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, China, India, the USA and other countries reported that the people nearby (“PEOPLE NEARBY” have ceased to work in the messenger, which allowed to look for nearby, as well as local groups and chats. This was noticed shortly after the detention of the creator of the messenger Pavel Durov, whom France accuses of assistance to cybercriminals.

What is connected with the disconnection of “people nearby” is still unknown. This can be either a technical failure or a conscious decision of the company. The function was used not only by those who want to find like -minded people nearby, but also for illegal purposes. New Europe briefly tells how she worked.

Why do you need this function at all?

Telegram launched the PEOPLE Nearby function in 2019. With its help, the company offered to get acquainted with those who live nearby, and also positioned it as a tool for creating groups of like -minded people without the need to share their contacts. So, for example, it became extremely easy to find a chat of your city, area or even a residential complex.

To enable the function, it was necessary to go to the “Contacts” section, turn on GPS, make sure that your own profile is visible to other users, and then click on “add people nearby”. After that, the application issued a list of local groups and chats, as well as a list of users who also included this function and which could be written.

However, in this way, the user revealed his location, in particular, his exact address. For this, the function has repeatedly been criticized. It was possible to turn off “People Nearby” in the same section (“contacts”), opening a list of people nearby and clicking on “not to show me”.

How did criminals use the function?

Basically, telegram users used the function as the administration of the messenger initially conceived. However, during its existence, PEOPLE Nearby also earned a fame, since it was often used by attackers, writes the relevant publication “Durov Code”.

Cybersecurity experts advised to disable it in order to avoid deanonymization and not leave a digital trace.

In January, the American scientific magazine Sociology Compass issued an article on drug trafficking through messengers and cited the situation in Telegram as an example. The authors argue that encrypted messages to exchange messages help drug dealers easily find buyers. This is achieved using a high level of confidentiality and the ability to create special “secret chats”, where through encryption is used. Thus, the activity inside the conversation becomes completely confidential, and even Telegram itself cannot view its contents.

Such opportunities accelerate drug delivery and provide more payment opportunities. Illegal substances become more affordable, and the police are harder to find distributors. As noted in the article by Sociology Compass, groups where drugs are sold are, including using the PEOPLE NEARBY function. The Latvian police even created a separate unit specializing in the monitoring of a chat application for drug trafficking.

The BBC correspondent Joe Tidi said that he was added to a large telegram channel for the sale of drugs on the basis of the “people nearby” function. According to him, then the messenger settings helped unknown to add his contact in 82 chats, where they sell not only drugs, but also with weapons, fake passports and discount cards , as well as sex services .

The fact that the “People nearby” option was used primarily for illegal trade is confirmed by IT expert Mikhail Klimarev in a conversation with Novo-European.

- The main claim to Telegram was that they did nothing with this. As many cybersecurity experts noted, with the help of this function you could find a place where to buy drugs, ”he notes.

In Telegram itself, no official statements were made. The New Gazeta Europe sent a request to the messenger administration.

"People nearby" disappeared immediately after Durov's detention

Users who reporting the shutdown of PEOPLE Nearby note that the function stopped working immediately after Pavel Durov was released after detention in France. Partly accusations against the creator of Telegram are associated with moderation, including potentially criminal content.

The prosecutor's office of Paris on August 26 reported that Durov was questioned as part of an investigation against an unnamed person in connection with cybercrime. This person is charged with complicity in the storage and distribution of pornographic images of minors, as well as in the sale of drugs and fraud.

Telegram itself claims that the messenger complies with the laws of the European Union, and the moderation system complies with the standards of the industry and "is constantly being improved." “It is absurd to argue that the platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of this platform,” the statement said. Now Durov is in Paris: he was released on bail of five million euros with an obligation not to leave France.