"Find me a dealer close by" is a sure way to get scammed. I'm not saying you cannot buy drugs on Telegram, just not via the location search.

It's also really easy to integrate with as a developer, the bot API is genuinely one of the best and easiest-to-use APIs I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with.

From what I'm hearing through the grapevine (from people who actually use Telegram for this), some of the dealers on there actually use bots to take your order / address. You can't really do this on any other messaging app, at least not easily.

As a lightweight user, I had literally no idea what you’re talking about.

Not saying you’re wrong, just that it’s not something in your face and you need to actively search for this (now that I know this exists, it took me a minute to find it).

Or "find me a hook up close by", "find me the notification channel of a nearby protest" (mind you, this actually happened in Hong Kong in 2019). But yeah, what you said also makes sense.

I don't use this feature as I don't really want to send my precise location to Telegram but I can imagine it being in someone else's usability complain against Signal, too.

“find me a hook up close by” literally means “find me a prostitute nearby” which is also illegal here and is indeed present on Telegram.

Considering how everyone reporting their actual experience with Telegram here is downvoted to death, it seems to really hurt some users to actually consider that maybe the reason Durov got arrested is because Telegram welcomes criminals with open arms and does absolutely nothing to moderate the platform.

If it is illegal, why cops don't use this function? They actually should be grateful to Telegram for making it easier to find crimes.

Apart from the fact that, in my years of using Telegram as my messaging app, I have never seen any of the "easy access to drugs" screens people here seem to find: an easy way to find drug sellers is a boon to law enforcement. This cannot be a reason for going against Telegram.

> This cannot be a reason for going against Telegram.

I’m sorry?

Operating a platform facilitating crime on a large scale is a very valid reason to arrest someone.

The uberisation of drug dealing is a major issue in France right now and striking Telegram would be a huge blow to that.

Obviously legalisation would be even better but that door is shut due to the US influence on international treaties.

I mean if we punished platforms for what they 'facilitate' we might as well just shut down the internet

Power grid and roads

Like two weeks ago the WSJ reported a big expose on how Instagram permits users to sell drugs using paid advertisements. I guess Zuck will be arrested shortly after Durov? I can't believe these comments are in good faith but dang says assume so. Smh