On Friday, Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced that the messaging app will address criticism surrounding its content moderation practices and remove certain features that have been exploited for illegal activities.
This announcement comes after Durov was placed under formal investigation in France last week due to allegations involving the use of Telegram for crimes such as fraud, money laundering, and the distribution of child sexual abuse material. Durov shared these plans with his 12.2 million followers on the platform.
“While 99.999% of Telegram users have no involvement in criminal activities, the 0.001% who do tarnish the platform’s reputation, putting the interests of our nearly billion users at risk,” the Russian-born tech mogul explained.
“That’s why this year, we are committed to transforming Telegram’s moderation from an area of criticism to one of praise,” Durov added, though he did not provide specific details on how this would be accomplished.
He mentioned that Telegram had already disabled new media uploads to a standalone blogging tool, which had been misused by anonymous actors, and removed the rarely used People Nearby feature, which had issues with bots and scammers. Instead, Telegram will now promote legitimate, verified businesses in users’ vicinity.
These changes are the first Durov has announced since his arrest in France last month, where he was questioned for four days before being placed under formal investigation and released on bail.
The case has sparked global debate within the tech industry, raising concerns about the limits of free speech online, the regulation of social media platforms, and whether platform owners can be held legally accountable for crimes committed by users.
Durov’s lawyer criticized the investigation, calling it absurd to hold Durov responsible for crimes committed by others on the app.
Meanwhile, Katie Harbath, a former public policy director at Meta who now advises tech companies, noted, “It’s good that Durov is starting to take content moderation seriously, but like Elon Musk and other tech CEOs running speech platforms have discovered, if he thinks a few small changes will suffice, he’s in for a rude awakening.”
Additionally, Telegram has removed a statement from its Frequently Asked Questions page that previously indicated it does not handle reports about illegal content in private chats, as such chats are protected.
Durov did not mention this change in his message, but he did note that Telegram has reached 10 million paid subscribers.
In a post the previous day, Durov acknowledged that Telegram isn’t perfect, but he refuted media claims that the platform is an “anarchic paradise,” stating that millions of harmful posts and channels are taken down daily.
He also expressed surprise at the French investigation, pointing out that authorities could have contacted Telegram’s EU representative or Durov himself to address their concerns.
“If a country is dissatisfied with an Internet service, the standard procedure is to initiate legal action against the service itself,” Durov wrote.
