With roughly a billion active monthly users, Telegram is one of the most used messaging services.
The communication platform connects people worldwide and with optional end-to-end encryption, provides enhanced security compared to some other market players.
Telegram can also be an excellent medium to broadcast messages to a wider audience. Through dedicated one-way channels, people can share news, status updates, and emergency alerts, for example.
Piracy Complaints
While most messages shared on the platform are perfectly legal, Telegram has also been used by pirates and pirate sites. This has been a major concern for rightholders, who repeatedly complained that Telegram did little to address the problem seriously.
A few months ago, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) flagged Telegram as a notorious piracy market. The publishers acknowledged that Telegram accepted takedowns, but stressed that it lacked a comprehensive approach to deal with rampant and growing piracy.
“Notorious piracy networks (such as Z-Library) have established Telegram bots and channels to distribute copyrighted content or provide links to piracy sites hosting and disseminating pirated materials,” AAP wrote.
Following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France last summer, some positive changes were reported. The criminal probe is not centered on piracy, but Telegram appeared more responsive. Some reported that the speed at which takedown requests were processed, went from more than 24 hours to less than 20 minutes, for example.
In addition, Telegram updated its terms of service and privacy policy to clarify that, going forward, personal details of alleged infringers, including their IP addresses, would be handed over in response to valid legal requests.
“We won’t let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform of almost a billion users,” Durov said at the time.
Z-Library Bot and Channel “Unavailable”
This stricter policy was evident to outsiders as well. Telegram removed accounts of piracy associated websites and services, after initially leaving these untouched for years. That included the official Z-Library channel, which had more than half a million subscribers at its peak.
Although Z-Library’s communication channel didn’t directly link to pirated books, it served as a key information hub, providing updates on new features and access methods. That was enough to warrant a permanent suspension last month.
The Telegram ban was a setback for Z-Library, but the shadow library wasted no time creating a new account and regaining tens of thousands of subscribers. Progress ground to a halt last weekend when the ‘new’ @zlibrary_news account was also suspended for copyright infringement.
“The channel is unavailable due to copyright infringement,” Telegram reports.
In addition to the main communication channel, one of the most used Z-Library download bots on Telegram was also taken offline. The @1lib account had more than 20,000 monthly users, who presumably used it as a handy tool to download books for free.
According to a Z-Library representative posting on X, Telegram took action in response to complaints from a major publisher. Many other ‘personal’ bots are unaffected and remain online for the time being.
Legal & Information Battles
The fact that Z-Library posted their explanation on X shows that the site is yet to be banned from there. We assume that publishers will attempt to suspend other communication channels used by the site.
These actions are part of an access and information battle the publishers are waging against shadow libraries. This complements site blocking efforts and countless Google takedowns. At this point, it is not clear where this will end.
Meanwhile, Z-Library remains at the center of a criminal prosecution in the United States. In 2022, two alleged operators of the site were arrested in Argentina and their extradition to the United States was approved last year.
However, according to the most recent information we have, the defendants escaped house arrest and disappeared. No further information has been released and the docket at the New York federal court has not been updated since late 2023.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
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