On Monday, Pavel Durov, the founder and chief executive of Telegram, announced that the messaging service had taken down more “problematic content “following his arrest in France, where he faced charges for not doing enough to combat criminal activities utilizing the platform.
Durov informed the 13 million followers of his personal messaging channel that Telegram’s search functionality “has been abused by people who violated our terms of service to sell illegal goods”. He explained that over the last few weeks, the staff utilized artificial intelligence to thoroughly examine Telegram, ensuring that “all the problematic content we identified in Search is no longer accessible”.
Moreover, Durov mentioned that the platform revised its terms of service and privacy policy explicitly stating that it would disclose the details of violators — such as IP addresses and phone numbers — “in response to valid legal requests”. He asserted, “We won’t let bad actors jeopardise the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users.”
Durov was taken into custody on August 24 upon his arrival at Le Bourget airport near Paris via a private jet. Following several days of interrogation, he faced multiple charges for failing to suppress extremist and terrorist content and was subsequently released on a five-million-euro ($5.6 million) bail. As part of the ongoing investigation, he is required to stay in France and check in with law enforcement twice weekly.
Initially, Durov, who possesses passports from Russia, France, and the United Arab Emirates, publicly criticized his detainment. However, he has since indicated that he would comply with the demands of Paris. On September6, he mentioned that Telegram would modify its “people nearby” feature to showcase only “legitimate businesses” instead of “bots and scammers”.
“This year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise,” he stated at that time. Durov, known for being a somewhat reclusive figure, has an estimated net worth of $15.5 billion according to Forbes magazine, yet he advocates for a minimalist lifestyle that incorporates ice baths and eschews alcohol and coffee.
