Telegram disables ‘misused’ features as CEO faces criminal charges

In a post on Telegram Friday, founder and CEO Pavel Durov set out a new approach for the app and announced it’s disabled some “outdated” features. The first changes to the app following his arrest in France last month affect its built-in blog posts and a “People Nearby” location-based feature.

The changes come as Durov attempts to reverse Telegram’s reputation as a hotspot for criminal activity that came as a result of lax moderation policies. In late August, French authorities arrested and charged Durov with enabling legal transactions and complicity in the distribution of child sexual abuse material.

Durov’s first post-arrest statement Thursday said, “Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform. That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard.” He also said that during the four-day interview after his arrest, “I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.”

Telegram has since reworked some of its language surrounding private chats and moderation and followed up with these new updates. It’s also adding Star giveaways and enabling a reading mode for its in-app browser.

“While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities creates a bad image for the entire platform,” Durov’s message says. “That’s why this year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise.”

Durov says the service has stopped new media uploads to its standalone blogging tool, Telegraph, because it was “misused by anonymous actors.”

Launched in 2016, Telegraph lets anyone anonymously create a post, upload media, and then share the webpage on social media or Telegram. However, security researchers reported that bad actors use the tool to carry out phishing scams by creating phony website landing pages or notices that trick users into divulging personal information.

Telegram has also removed its People Nearby feature, which lets you find and message other users in your area. Durov says the feature has “had issues with bots and scammers” and was only used by less than 0.1 percent of users. Telegram will replace this feature with “Businesses Nearby” instead, allowing “legitimate, verified businesses” to display products and accept payments.

Here’s Durov’s full message:

Telegram has reached 10 million paid subscribers. 10 million people are now enjoying Telegram Premium!

Today, we’re introducing new features while phasing out a few outdated ones.

We’ve removed the People Nearby feature, which was used by less than 0.1% of Telegram users, but had issues with bots and scammers.

In its place, we will be launching “Businesses Nearby”, showcasing legitimate, verified businesses. These businesses will be able to display product catalogs and accept payments seamlessly.

We’ve also disabled new media uploads to Telegraph, our standalone blogging tool, which seems to have been misused by anonymous actors.

While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk.

That’s why this year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise.