Source: AFP
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov on Friday announced a series of new features aimed at fighting illegal content, bots and scammers, a week after he was arrested and charged by French authorities over breaches at the messaging app.
Durov broke his silence Thursday with his first public comments since his arrest, which he called “misguided” and “surprised.”
However, it had also acknowledged that Telegram was not “perfect” and that it would take more action against illegal content that it claims comes from a small percentage of its 950 million users.
“While 99.999 percent of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001 percent who engage in illegal activities creates a bad image for the entire platform, jeopardizing the interests of our nearly billion users,” he wrote in his news statement on Telegram. Friday.
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“That’s why this year we’re committed to turning moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism to an area of praise,” he added.
Durov said Telegram had removed the “people nearby” feature, which allowed users to locate other Telegram users, but said it was “used by less than 0.1% of Telegram users, but had problems with bots and cheaters”.
In its place, Telegram is launching “businesses nearby” to showcase “legitimate, verified businesses.”
He said Telegram had also disabled uploading of new media to Telegraph, its standalone blogging tool, “which appears to have been abused by anonymous actors”, he said.
After four days in custody, Durov, 39, was indicted on multiple counts of failing to curb extremist and illegal content on Telegram.
He was arrested on August 24 at Le Bourget airport outside Paris after arriving on a private jet and questioned in the following days by investigators.
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Durov was granted bail of five million euros ($5.5 million) on the condition that he report to a police station twice a week and remain in France.
On Thursday, he defiantly said France was wrong to hold him responsible for “crimes committed by third parties on the platform”.
An enigmatic figure who rarely speaks publicly, Durov is a citizen of Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates, where Telegram is based.
Forbes magazine estimates his current fortune at $15.5 billion, although he proudly promotes the virtues of an ascetic life that includes taking ice baths and not drinking alcohol or coffee.
Source: AFP
