Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, announced on Monday that the messaging platform has taken action to remove more "problematic content" and will now be more proactive in complying with government requests. This decision follows Durov's recent arrest in France on charges of failing to address criminal activity on the app.
Durov informed his 13 million subscribers through his personal messaging channel that the platform's search feature had been misused by individuals violating the terms of service to sell illegal items. He stated that over the past few weeks, the staff has used artificial intelligence to ensure that all the problematic content identified in the search feature is no longer accessible.
In addition, Durov mentioned that the platform has updated its terms of service and privacy policy to clarify its intention to share infringers' details with authorities in response to valid legal requests, including internet IP addresses and phone numbers.
“We won’t let bad actors jeopardise the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users,” Durov emphasised.
Durov's arrest on August 24 at Le Bourget airport in Paris led to his questioning and subsequent charges related to failing to control extremist and terrorist content. He was released on a €5m bail and is required to stay in France and report to the police twice a week during the investigation.
Initially critical of his arrest, Durov has since announced measures indicating his willingness to comply with Paris's demands. On September 6th, he stated that Telegram would modify its "people nearby" feature to display "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 declared at that time.
Meanwhile, an upcoming WhatsApp feature will allow users to personalise their chats with different themes, providing a new level of customization. This enhancement promises to not only improve the user experience but also make chatting more engaging. According to WABetaInfo, a website renowned for tracking WhatsApp updates, the feature is currently in development and is expected to be released to beta users soon.
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