Men Use Hacking Tools to Target Wives and Friends
▼ Summary
– New research reveals thousands of men use Telegram groups to sell hacking and surveillance services for harassing partners, alongside trading abusive content like nonconsensual images.
– An analysis of 2.8 million messages from 16 Italian and Spanish Telegram communities found over 24,000 members shared 82,723 abusive files, targeting both celebrities and ordinary women known to them.
– A researcher argues Telegram should face stricter regulation as a “very large online platform,” noting most victims are ordinary women who are often personally known to the perpetrators.
– Telegram’s founder is under criminal investigation in France, as the app faces scrutiny for hosting illegal content despite its free speech positioning and efforts to block it in Russia.
– A Telegram spokesperson states the company removes millions of harmful content pieces daily with AI tools and has policies against illegal sexual content, doxing, and selling illegal services.
A new investigation reveals a disturbing digital ecosystem where thousands of men congregate on Telegram to acquire tools for surveillance and harassment, often targeting women they know personally. Research from the nonprofit algorithmic auditing group AI Forensics details how these private groups and channels facilitate the trade of hacking and surveillance services, alongside vast quantities of abusive content. This material includes nonconsensual intimate imagery, so-called nudifying services, and folders alleged to contain child sexual abuse material.
The six-week study, conducted earlier this year, analyzed nearly 2.8 million messages across 16 Italian and Spanish Telegram communities. More than 24,000 members actively participated, posting over 82,000 images, videos, and audio files. While public figures are frequent targets, the research underscores that ordinary women are the primary victims, often unaware their images are being shared or manipulated. “The majority of this violence is directed towards people who the perpetrators know,” says researcher Silvia Semenzin of AI Forensics, who has tracked similar Italian channels since 2019. She argues that Telegram, with over a billion monthly users, should face stricter oversight under European online safety regulations as a very large online platform.
This report emerges as Telegram founder Pavel Durov contends with regulatory pressures, including a criminal probe in France over alleged criminal activity on the app and Russia’s attempts to block the service. The platform has long championed free speech but has simultaneously been exploited to disseminate terrorist propaganda, cybercrime materials, and abusive content.
In response to the findings, a Telegram spokesperson stated the company removes millions of objectionable items daily using custom AI tools, enforcing policies in Europe that prohibit violence, illegal sexual content, doxing, and the sale of illicit goods. However, the AI Forensics report documents a pervasive culture within these groups that extends beyond image sharing. Researchers observed extensive trading of women’s private information, profile links for doxing purposes, and active markets for spying or hacking tools. Victims are frequently named and made locatable through shared social media details.
The channels openly advertise intrusive services. One translated post, titled “Professional hacking on commission,” promised clients access to a phone’s gallery for photo and video extraction, plus anonymous social media hacking. Another message explicitly offered, “I can spy on your partner’s account. Send me a private message.” Across the dataset, references to spying or spy content appeared over 18,000 times, with users soliciting everything from bots that infiltrate personal galleries to methods for obtaining phone numbers linked to social media accounts. These findings paint a stark picture of how digital tools are weaponized in the context of interpersonal violence and harassment.
(Source: Wired)
