Forbes StaffThe Russian business executive, entrepreneur, and Telegram boss said the app will tackle criticism of its content moderation.
Pavel Durov has been making headlines for a month, but not for good reasons. Several serious charges were levied against him when he was arrested after landing at Le Bourget Airport. However, on Friday, the Russian business executive, entrepreneur, and Telegram boss said that his messaging app would address criticism of its content moderation and remove some features that had been abused for illegal activity.
Pavel Durov announces the move on social media.
The Telegram founder, who last week was placed under formal investigation in France in connection with the use of Telegram for crimes including fraud, sharing images of child sexual abuse, money laundering, and more, announced his latest move on social media. He wrote, “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. That’s why this year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise.”
Changes announced by Durov.
He said it had already disabled new media uploads to a standalone blogging tool “which seems to have been misused by anonymous actors.” It also removed a little-used People Nearby feature, which “had issues with bots and scammers” and would instead showcase legitimate, verified businesses in the vicinity of users.
These are the first changes he has announced after being arrested last month in France and questioned for four days before being placed under formal investigation and released on bail.
