Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov said on Monday that the messaging platform has removed more “problematic content,” weeks after his arrest in France for failing to take action against criminals using the app.
Durov told the 13 million subscribers of his private messaging channel that Telegram’s search feature had been “abused by people who have violated our terms of service to sell illegal goods.”
He said staff had scrutinised Telegram “over the past few weeks” using artificial intelligence to “ensure that problematic content we identified in our searches was no longer accessible.”
Durov said the platform has updated its terms of service and privacy policy to make clear it will share violators’ details with authorities — including internet IP addresses and phone numbers — “in response to valid legal requests.”
“We will not allow bad actors to threaten the integrity of our platform for nearly a billion users,” he said.
Durov was arrested on August 24 as he arrived at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on a private jet.
After several days of questioning, he was charged with multiple counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content and was released on five million euros ($5.6 million) bail.
He will have to remain in France during the investigation and report to police twice a week.
Durov – who holds Russian, French and UAE passports – initially criticised his arrest but later announced he would take steps to bow to Paris’ demands.
On September 6, he said Telegram would make changes to its “People Nearby” feature, directing users to “legitimate businesses” instead of “bots and scammers”.
“This year we are committed to transforming moderation on Telegram from an arena for criticism to an arena for praise,” he said at the time.
Durov is a mysterious figure who rarely speaks in public. His wealth is estimated at $15.5 billion according to Forbes magazine, but he extols the virtues of an ascetic life that includes taking ice baths and not drinking alcohol or coffee.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
