Italian authorities have announced an operation to disrupt mass piracy on Telegram. Technology fraud specialists executed a seizure order against 545 channels and conducted physical searches in five regions. Eight channel administrators are suspected of criminal copyright infringement offenses. TorrentFreak has identified several of the channels and how they were monetized.

The mainstream file-sharing scene is well-known for its public-facing websites and forums but underneath all of that, chat channels have always played a big role.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was a popular option when BitTorrent sites ruled the waves. Many sites had channels serving as community hubs on one hand, and portals to the latest files on the other. IRC’s relatively steep learning curve helped to stunt its own growth but for modern-day equivalents such as Telegram, there are no such problems.

After IRC first appeared in 1988, it took more than 20 years for the most popular networks to peak between 100K to 200K users. After just nine years online, Telegram now has 700 million active users each month. Channels are used for every type of discussion imaginable, with piracy facilitation and distribution some of the fastest-growing trends. As a result, copyright holders have yet another battle on their hands.

The rest of this article can be read on TorrentFreak.com

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