In September 2025, reports revealed that a Telegram group had allegedly been used to recruit migrant workers, including Filipino nationals, to Cambodia, where they faced labour rights violations such as passport confiscation and penalties for attempting to leave their jobs.

An official investigation led to the rescue of victims of alleged human trafficking who had been recruited through online messaging platforms, including Telegram. One victim stated that he had been recruited via Telegram to work at a Philippine offshore gaming operator hub in Cambodia. Authorities subsequently rescued the victims and arrested the suspects involved in the alleged trafficking scheme.

In late September, the Resource Centre contacted Telegram to invite them to respond to the allegations and to outline how it monitors and removes content on Telegram facilitating human trafficking, including trafficking to Cambodia.

The company responded declaring that: "Human trafficking is explicitly forbidden by Telegram's terms of service and is removed whenever discovered. Moderators empowered by custom AI tools proactively monitor public parts of the platform and accept reports in order to remove millions of pieces of harmful content each day, including human trafficking".