(Reuters) -Telegram boss Pavel Durov mentioned on Friday that the messaging app would deal with criticism of its content material moderation and take away some options that had been abused for criminality.
Durov, who was final week positioned below formal investigation in France in reference to the usage of Telegram for crimes together with fraud, cash laundering and sharing photographs of kid intercourse abuse, introduced the transfer in a message to his 12.2 million subscribers on the platform.
“Whereas 99.999% of Telegram customers don’t have anything to do with crime, the 0.001% concerned in illicit actions create a foul picture for all the platform, placing the pursuits of our virtually billion customers in danger,” the Russian-born tech entrepreneur wrote on Telegram.
“That’s why this yr we’re dedicated to show moderation on Telegram from an space of criticism into one among reward.”
Durov mentioned Telegram had disabled new media uploads to a standalone running a blog device “which appears to have been misused by nameless actors”.
He mentioned it had additionally eliminated a little-used Folks Close by characteristic which “had points with bots and scammers” and would as an alternative showcase reliable, verified enterprise within the neighborhood of customers.
The adjustments are the primary he has introduced since being arrested final month in France and questioned for 4 days earlier than being positioned below formal investigation and launched on bail.
His lawyer has mentioned it was absurd to analyze Durov in reference to crimes dedicated by different folks on the app.
In a earlier publish on Thursday, Durov mentioned Telegram was not good. “However the claims in some media that Telegram is a few type of anarchic paradise are completely unfaithful,” he wrote. “We take down thousands and thousands of dangerous posts and channels day-after-day.”
