Durov says Telegram will deal with criticism of the way it moderates content material – Safety
Telegram boss Pavel Durov stated 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 criminal activity.
Durov, who was final week positioned underneath 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 p.c of Telegram customers don’t have anything to do with crime, the 0.001 p.c concerned in illicit actions create a foul picture for the complete platform, placing the pursuits of our virtually billion customers in danger,” the Russian-born tech entrepreneur wrote.
“That’s why this yr we’re dedicated to show moderation on Telegram from an space of criticism into one in every of reward.”
Durov didn’t spell out intimately how Telegram would obtain that.
However he stated it had already disabled new media uploads to a standalone running a blog software “which appears to have been misused by nameless actors”.
It had additionally eliminated a little-used Folks Close by function which “had points with bots and scammers” and would as an alternative showcase official, 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 underneath formal investigation and launched on bail.
The case has reverberated by the worldwide tech business, elevating questions concerning the limits of free speech on-line, the policing of social media platforms and whether or not their homeowners are legally chargeable for legal behaviour by customers.
Durov’s lawyer has stated it was absurd to analyze the Telegram boss in reference to crimes dedicated by different individuals on the app.
Katie Harbath, a former public coverage director at Meta who now advises corporations on expertise points, stated: “It is good that Durov is beginning to take content material moderation significantly however, identical to Elon (Musk) and different tech CEOs who run speech platforms have discovered, if he thinks this might be so simple as making just a few small adjustments, he is in for a impolite awakening.”
Telegram has additionally eliminated language from its ceaselessly requested questions web page saying that it doesn’t course of experiences about unlawful content material in non-public chats as a result of such chats are protected.
Durov didn’t seek advice from that change in his message, during which he additionally stated that Telegram had reached 10 million paid subscribers.
In a earlier put up final week, Durov stated Telegram was not good. “However the claims in some media that Telegram is a few kind of anarchic paradise are completely unfaithful,” he wrote. “We take down hundreds of thousands of dangerous posts and channels every single day.”
He stated the French investigation was stunning, as a result of authorities there might have contacted Telegram’s EU consultant, or Durov himself, at any time with the intention to increase considerations.
“If a rustic is sad with an Web service, the established observe is to start out a authorized motion towards the service itself,” he wrote.