“[The defendant] could not shift his criminal liability,” Hui said. In 2018, Telegram’s audience reached 200 million people, with 500,000 new users joining the messenger every day. It was launched for iOS on 14 August 2013 and Android on 20 October 2013. Ng, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, had been detained for more than 20 months. His channel was said to have contained around 120 messages and photos that incited others to vandalise pro-government shops and commit criminal damage targeting police stations. Telegram channels fall into two types: For crypto enthusiasts, there was the “gm” app, a self-described “meme app” which only allowed users to greet each other with “gm,” or “good morning,” a common acronym thrown around on Crypto Twitter and Discord. But the gm app was shut down back in September after a hacker reportedly gained access to user data.
from us