Telegram CEO Pavel Durov—facing criminal charges connected to the platform’s moderation policies—announced the first updates to the social media platform since his arrest last month, including the removal of features he said are linked to illegal activity, pledging to revamp the company’s heavily criticized lax moderation.
The social media platform is “committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism ... [+]
Durov was arrested in France last month and charged with several crimes related to user activity on Telegram, which prosecutors said failed to moderate “child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking, fraud” and money laundering, among other claims.
Telegram has disabled new media uploads to its blogging tool “Telegraph” and removed its “People Nearby” feature, Durov announced.
An ability to upload media to “Telegraph” appeared to “have been misused by anonymous actors,” Durov said.
The “People Nearby” feature—a list of other nearby users and their proximity—was used by less than 0.1% of all Telegram users and had “issues with bots and scammers,” according to Durov, who added the feature will be replaced with “Businesses Nearby,” which will list “legitimate, verified businesses.”
Durov said the updates are part of a larger effort by Telegram to turn an “area of criticism” of the platform’s moderation “into one of praise.”
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“While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk,” Durov wrote.
Telegram quietly updated its FAQ page on Thursday, indicating users on the platform could report private messages. The page previously stated chats were “private amongst their participants” and Telegram could not “process any requests related to them.”
In his first public comments since his arrest, Durov wrote on Telegram his arrest was a “misguided approach” by law enforcement. Despite criticizing his arrest, Durov acknowledged “voices” saying the platform’s moderation was inadequate, which he linked to an “abrupt increase in user count” that has “caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”
10 million. That’s how many people are paying for a premium subscription to Telegram as of Friday, according to Durov. Telegram says the platform has more than 950 million users and claims to be one of the “top 5 most downloaded apps” worldwide.
French prosecutors reportedly launched a probe into Telegram in July over claims the platform was enabling criminal activity, including the distribution of child pornography and drug sales. Durov, a Russian-born billionaire, founded Telegram—a messaging platform similar to WhatsApp—in 2013. In 2006, Durov founded the social media platform Vkontakte, now known as Russia’s Facebook. His arrest has drawn criticism from other social media platform executives, including X’s Elon Musk and Rumble’s Chris Pavlovski, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Forbes reported Durov is also under investigation for a separate criminal complaint in Switzerland alleging he was physically violent with his son multiple times, including once in Paris, leading Parisian officials to launch a connected probe.