Picture of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov that he posted on June 21, 2017. Photo: @durov/Instagram.
“All Telegram apps have ‘Report’ buttons that let you flag illegal content for our moderators — in just a few taps,” the new policy stated
Telegram has removed its privacy policy from its FAQ page stating private chats are protected from moderation, following CEO Pavel Durov’s pledge to moderate more content on the platform after his recent arrest in France.
“Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform,” Durov said in a statement shared on Thursday. “That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon.”
The instant messaging platform’s FAQ page has been altered within the last 24 hours.
“There’s illegal content on Telegram. How do I take it down?” is one of the platform’s frequently asked questions.
The initial response to the question was “All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them.”
However, due to the shift in policy prompted by Durov’s arrest based on accusations of allowing criminal activity on the application, the response has been replaced with “All Telegram apps have ‘Report’ buttons that let you flag illegal content for our moderators — in just a few taps,” alongside instructions on how to report messages.
Arrest in France ‘misguided,’ Telegram not ‘anarchic paradise’: Durov
Telegram founder Pavel Durov described his recent arrest by French authorities as “misguided,” stating they could have contacted his company’s EU representative with their complaints.
The Russian-born multi-billionaire denied allegations that his instant messaging application was an “anarchic paradise,” emphasizing that the investigation was surprising since French authorities had access to a “hotline” they could have contacted at any time.
“If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself,” he wrote.
“Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,” the founder added.
Durov’s comments were posted on his Telegram channel early Friday, marking his first public statements since his arrest last month.
The CEO stated that despite it not being perfect, he denied Telegram’s association with abuse.
“But the claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue,” he wrote, asserting, “We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day.”
