Telegram admitted to illegal activity and announced the launch of anti-fraud features of these messengers.
According to the news agency of science and technology Anna, citing Interesting Engineering, Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, only a week after he was arrested and accused by French authorities of violating the regulations of this messaging application, new features to handle illegal content, bots and introduced fraudsters.
Durov ended his silence by making his first public statement after his arrest, calling the arrest misleading and surprising. However, he acknowledged that Telegram could have been more perfect.
He emphasized that Telegram will increase its efforts to deal with illegal content, which he believes originates from a small fraction of its 950 million users.
Telegram users involved in illegal activities
In his new statement on Telegram, Durov wrote: While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% of them who are involved in illegal activities create a bad image for the entire platform and the interests of almost one billion users. They put us in danger.
He added: This is why this year we are trying to change moderation in Telegram from criticism to praise.
Durov pointed out that Telegram has removed the nearby people feature that allows users to find other Telegram users. He noted that less than 0.1 percent of Telegram users used it, but it had problems with bots and spammers.
Instead, Telegram launches Nearby Businesses to display legitimate and verified businesses.
He said Telegram has also disabled new media uploads to Telegram, its standalone blogging tool, which appears to have been exploited by unknown actors.
39-year-old Durov faced several charges after being detained for four days on charges of not controlling extreme and illegal content on Telegram.
He was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on August 24, upon his arrival on a private jet. Investigators interrogated him in the following days.
Durov was granted bail of five million euros ($5.5 million) on the condition that he report to police twice a week and remain in France.
