Looks like big changes are coming to Telegram

On September 6, Durov made his first public statement after his arrest: promises to moderate more content on the platformThis is a marked change of tone after the company initially stated that it had “nothing to hide” and, for years before, had refused to carry out strict controls and had not even wanted to join specialist organisations that deal with child abuse.

Telegram’s growth to 950 million users has created problems that make it easier for criminals to abuse our platform, so I set myself the goal of making a significant improvement. We’ve already started this process internally, and I’ll share more details about our progress with you soon.
Durov wrote.

While Durov didn’t specify any specific steps, it appears that some changes are already in place. The company’s FAQ page has changed in the title section over the last 24 hours “There is illegal content on Telegram. How to remove it?”.

• As of September 5, Telegram’s response to this question was as follows: “All Telegram chats and group chats are private between members. We do not process any requests related to them”.
• But now those sentences have been deleted. Instead, they have been replaced with the following: “All Telegram apps have ‘Report’ buttons that allow you to flag illegal content for our moderators; they’re just a few taps away.” This is followed by instructions on how to report suspected violations.

It’s hard to say how far this will go now. Judging by the wording, the messenger still won’t check all messages for prohibited content (for example, it will set up AI to automate the process), but will only respond to user requests. If it works this way, it’s unlikely to have the desired effect, as it’s hard to imagine someone breaking the law in one of the private group chats would report it to the moderators themselves. It’s also unclear whether private channels will be subject to these checks.

Durov’s arrest

Durov’s arrest came after French authorities filed preliminary charges saying the messaging platform was used to traffic child sexual abuse material and drugs, and the company refused to cooperate with investigations.

Durov stressed in his message that his company was “trying to cooperate with regulators” and combat sensitive content. But the Russian billionaire, who has personally confirmed his French citizenship, did not specify what had stopped him from doing so earlier.