A user who wants to access drugs on Telegram, the famous messaging application, only had to type “buy” in their search engine and several options would appear to purchase cocaine or other varieties of illegal drugs. After his arrest in France in August, Pavel Durov, founder of the platform, wants to limit potentially criminal activity that until now was this simple: “The search on Telegram is more powerful than on other apps messaging because it allows you to find public channels and bots. Unfortunately, some people have abused this feature to sell illegal products,” Durov wrote on his channel a few days ago.
One of the things that has disappeared in recent days was adding the object of the purchase: “Buy drugs.” As of last week, that search no longer returns results. But only “buy” continues to offer various drug channels or chats in Madrid or Barcelona. “We don’t see any difference,” says Matías Dewey, sociologist and professor of Latin American Studies at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). co-author of an academic article on the drug market on Telegram. Dewey adds that other potentially criminal searches continue to work without a problem: “I just logged in again and double-checked that nothing is different. Even if I search for ‘Rolex’, groups appear selling counterfeit watches.”
Telegram has prepared a channel for its users to report searches that give results that could be criminal: @SearchReport. The example they give in English is precisely “buy drugs.” That will be one of the first conflicting searches to be disabled.
But the world of drugs on Telegram has much greater depth and complexity, according to Dewey. “The main novelty that we found was that all the interviewees referred to an improvement in the experience in the consumption or sale of drugs,” explains the author in reference to his scientific article from 2024 where they interviewed drug sellers and buyers in Argentina and which is the first to study an illegal market in that app. “You can buy more safely and quickly. The consumer is less exposed to violence and does not have to leave their home,” adds Dewey. Another advantage of Telegram for its users is that it allows you to hide your phone number in your account, which prevents your contacts from using it if any problem arises.
There is no single way to sell drugs on Telegram. There are chats with thousands of users that bring together sellers and buyers or there are channels that serve as exhibitors and the negotiation is then done in private chats. The big difference with the other major digital method to buy drugs (negotiating with the seller via WhatsApp) is that Telegram allowed local searches: this makes it possible to arrive in a new city and immediately have contacts. This local function is one of those that, according to Durov, they have cut: “We have eliminated the function of people nearby, which was used by less than 0.1% of Telegram users, but had problems with bots and scammers. Instead, we will launch businesses nearbywhich will show legitimate and verified businesses.” Hundreds of people regret the closing of the show in X.
The definitive elimination of the structure that was created in Telegram to market drugs will not be so easy: “It is not only about the immediacy and ease of purchase, but also the greater variety of substances such as tusi, ketamine or others that are outside the traditional marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy, which are those for mass consumption,” develops Andrés Buzzetti, doctoral student at the National University of San Martín (Argentina).
The danger is also substantially reduced if you do not have to go to any dangerous neighborhoods to shop. Dewey and Buzzetti have documented cases where purchasing is completely digital, such as with Glovo or Just Eat. After the virtual payment, it is a rider who delivers the merchandise: “In some cases they used traditional messaging apps without knowing the content or there were others who used a Rappi backpack, a very common messenger in Argentina, to camouflage or justify why one it comes and goes,” says Buzzetti.
Another surprising detail that the researchers observed is that the main fear of Telegram users who bought or sold drugs through the platform was a scam, never the authorities: “They are participants who think that the law will never be applied, that it will never be applied.” They are going to be discovered,” summarizes Dewey. “The police were almost never named,” he adds.
In his turn, Durov has also promised to collaborate with authorities when they have clear evidence that someone is a potential criminal and uses the platform. In his interviews for other jobs, Dewey had already detected that the authorities had left Telegram as impossible when they were pursuing a crime, some more serious than the sale of drugs: “Last week I interviewed a Buenos Aires prosecutor who is dedicated to the abuse of minors and child pornography. In the causes they have, when Telegram appears, they leave them aside, why? They know that they will not be able to collect evidence, that they will contact the company and it will tell them no or it will not respond directly,” he explains.
Telegram, in principle, should abandon this attitude after Durov’s promises. “In case of violating our rules, the IP addresses and phone numbers of violators may be shared with the authorities if we receive valid legal requests,” Durov wrote on his channel on September 23, although on October 2, in response to complaints of users, wanted to clarify that “nothing changes much” on Telegram. “To avoid confusion, last week we simplified and unified our privacy policy in different countries. But our founding principles have not changed. “We have always tried to comply with local laws, as long as they do not go against our values of freedom and privacy,” he added. The only answer will be to see if the authorities notice changes in the responses to their police requests to Telegram.
Who sells that drug?
The type of Telegram user for these sales, according to the Dewey and Buzzetti study, is usually a small seller, with little growth expectations. “They were not big drug traffickers, but small sellers who were far from the prejudice that one can have: university students, young women (one of the interviews was done in a park with the interviewee’s dogs) or a student who sold a significant amount of ecstasy. , but that an organization gave it to her and she didn’t really know who they were,” Buzzetti details. Another example of an unexpected seller was a baker who got up at 5 in the morning, worked until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, came home and started selling.
Thanks to all these Telegram conditions, women have appeared as sellers, who have also created groups appropriate to their interests. “Laura (not her real name) specializes in selling ecstasy to women and advises users on how to experience the desired effect,” the article says. “Laura’s case is interesting because it shows the levels of specialization and search for market niches,” explains Dewey. “And it also shows the role of women in markets that tend to belong to men. The same medium and the perception of security it generates favor the search for market niches and, on the part of consumers, the exploration of new substances,” he adds.
Sales in Telegram chats are structured as an open market, where the creator ensures a certain reliability in exchange for controlling the tone and small economic advantages: “Beyond the possibility of making money from the sale of drugs, we identify three gains” , explains Dewey. “First, in exchange for some money, they post your ad high up. Second, they arm certifications of trusted sellers (trusted sellers). Distrust prevails in these groups and sellers need to be seen as trustworthy people. So the organizers, in exchange for money, create a list of trusted sellers who publish continuously. And third, organizers capture a lot of information that allows them to do other business. Selling through Telegram is an urban phenomenon and many times the organizers know each other around the world offline”.
These groups can be found in Reddit communities or other platforms or, as in the case of WhatsApp, someone shares it. It is important to add, the researchers say, that Telegram is just one more platform where these exchanges occur. Although it has specific characteristics that make it easier, there are also exchanges or contacts in other networks.
