Creative Private Room Still Exists! Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare is considering blocking Telegram to combat illegal sexual image trading.

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Creative Private Room Still Exists! Taiwan

The Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare is considering blocking Telegram to prevent the continued operation of "Creative Private Rooms," but there are many implementation issues. The Russian overseas social platform Telegram, combined with virtual currency flows like TON and USDT, has made it a lawless zone. However, blocking Telegram will also impact a large number of legitimate activities.

Creative Private Room Moves to New Platform

Entertainer Huang Zijiao was recently exposed as a premium member of the voyeur website "Creative Private Room," sparking public outrage. After the original platform was blocked by the government, the site operator, "Lao Ma," moved to Telegram to continue its illegal activities. Chang Hsiu-yuan, director of the Protection Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated that they are actively collecting evidence and will consider a complete ban on the use of Telegram once the violations are confirmed.

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No Rush to Shut Down, Action Criteria: Illegal Transactions Must Be Confirmed

Chang Hsiu-yuan pointed out that the Ministry of Health and Welfare is currently concentrating efforts to confirm the existence of the Telegram group and its illegal activities. If illegal transactions within the group can be confirmed and the platform fails to take action to remove the violations within the specified time, restrictions may be imposed on Telegram, potentially rendering the application unusable in Taiwan.

Chang Hsiu-yuan admitted that the government lacks channels to contact Telegram, as it is a Russian social platform, and few countries have the means to deal with it. The only way to completely shut down Telegram is in cases where there is a "failure to remove chat rooms after being notified within 24 hours" or "inability to contact the Telegram platform," in order to protect the victims.

Telegram Highly Integrates Cryptocurrencies: USDT, TON

The stablecoin USDT is the main medium used for transactions on "Creative Private Room," and recently, Tether, the issuer of USDT, announced the issuance of a Telegram blockchain version of USDT, making it easier for Telegram's native wallet to integrate various applications. While this brings more efficiency to Telegram applications, it may also lead to more rampant illegal activities like those of "Creative Private Room" exploiting Telegram.

XREX analyzes the on-chain financial flows of the Taiwan version of "Creative Private Room": who profits from the exploitation of minors?

An report by the American cybersecurity company ANALYST1 recently revealed that Toncoin TON, one of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market value, serves as one of the operational funding sources for the pro-Russian hacker group "KillNet," utilizing the anonymous accounts, wallets, and bot services of The Open Network. The integration of Telegram and TON is seen as a new gathering place for illegal activities on the dark web.

A new dark web emerges? TON used to fund pro-Russian hacker groups, fueling various illegal activities on Telegram

Arbitrary Blocking Will Affect "Legal Activities"

The Ministry of Health and Welfare also considers the impact of blocking Telegram on other legitimate business activities. Chang Hsiu-yuan emphasized that despite this, if necessary for the rights of victims, blocking measures will still be taken. Additionally, he mentioned the issue of how to deal with users who bypass restrictions through VPN, revealing the government's helplessness in this regard.

In order to strengthen the fight against criminal activities, the Ministry of Health and Welfare maintains close cooperation with the judicial units, ready to track and deal with criminal members at any time. Furthermore, Chang Hsiu-yuan hopes that the public will actively report and assist the judicial units to intervene early, fundamentally curbing the spread of such criminal activities.

Government Measures: Catching One at a Time

Regarding the issue of the transfer and rebirth of websites and social platforms for sexual content trading, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's current strategy is to "catch one at a time." Chang Hsiu-yuan appeals that, in addition to government efforts, the active participation of platform operators and the public is key to preventing the spread of such criminal activities.

Through the case of "Creative Private Room," we see the dual role that social platforms play in modern society, as well as the challenges and difficult decisions that the government faces in protecting public safety. With technological advancements, balancing freedom and security will be a long-term and complex issue.

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