The European Commission added VKontakte and Telegram to the list of pirate sites

VKontakte is surprised by the decision of the European Commission to include the social network in the list of resources that contribute to online piracy, the company has been interacting with copyright holders for many years and quickly restricts access to controversial content

The European Commission has published a new list of resources that promote piracy and can benefit from it. The list for the first time included the Telegram messenger and the social network VKontakte.

The list is formed on the basis of reports from groups of right holders. According to the European Commission, Telegram users, including using public channels, “exchange illegal content, in particular music, books, news publications, films and TV programs.” In addition, subscribers share links to other sites that host pirated content.

The social network “VKontakte” is also included in the list due to many complaints from copyright holders. Users of the social network can have unauthorized access to books, as well as to movies and TV shows, in particular through the built-in video players.

Both Telegram and VKontakte objected to their inclusion in the”piracy watch list”. Telegram told the European Commission that it “does not tolerate any malicious content on its platform” and removes it within 24 hours. VKontakte also noted that it is fighting piracy. In particular, the social network indicated that the copyright holder can complain about copyright infringement through an electronic form. According to VKontakte, its employees processed more than 1.36 million such complaints, most of which ended with the removal of content.

“We are surprised by the inclusion of VKontakte in this list, as for many years we have been actively interacting with copyright holders in various areas,” said the press service of the social network.

According to them, the company signed agreements with the world’s largest copyright holders of music products, including Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music, The Orchard, Merlin Network, Believe Digital.