On Friday, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov unveiled a series of new features designed to tackle illicit content, bots, and scammers. This announcement comes a week after he was arrested and charged by French authorities for violations related to the messaging app. In his first public comments since the arrest, Durov criticized the charges as “misguided” and “surprising.”
However, he also admitted that Telegram is “not perfect” and pledged to enhance measures against illegal content, which he contends originates from a small fraction of its 950 million users.
“While 99.999 percent of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001 percent involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk,” he wrote in his new statement on Telegram Friday.
“That’s why this year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise,” he added.
Durov said Telegram had removed the “people nearby” feature, which allowed users to locate other Telegram users but he said “was used by less than 0.1 percent of Telegram users, but had issues with bots and scammers.”
Telegram is introducing a new feature called “businesses nearby” to highlight “legitimate, verified businesses” in response to recent issues. Additionally, Telegram has disabled new media uploads to Telegraph, its standalone blogging tool, due to misuse by anonymous users.
Pavel Durov, 39, was charged with several counts related to failing to address extremist and illegal content on Telegram following four days of detention. He was arrested on August 24 at Le Bourget airport near Paris after arriving on a private jet, and was subsequently questioned by investigators. Durov was granted bail of five million euros ($5.5 million) with conditions to report to the police station twice a week and remain in France.
On Thursday, Durov criticized France for holding him responsible for “crimes committed by third parties on the platform.” A reclusive figure who rarely makes public statements, Durov holds citizenship in Russia, France, and the United Arab Emirates, where Telegram is headquartered.
