Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was released from prison earlier this week in France. Durov was arrested as the French authorities accused him of enabling illegal activities on the popular instant messaging platform. Soon after his release, Durov said that Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M “caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.” Now, in another post on his official Telegram channel, Durov announced some big changes.
“Today, we’re introducing new features while phasing out a few outdated ones,” Durov announced as he looked to curb the use of Telegram for illicit activities.
“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,” Pavel wrote. The feature allowed users to see — and message — other users who were nearby.
Telegram is now launching “Businesses Nearby” feature, which will showcase legitimate, verified businesses. “These businesses will be able to display product catalogs and accept payments seamlessly,” Durov said.
Another big change is that users will not be able to upload any images, videos on Telegraph, which is Telegram’s standalone blogging tool. Durov admitted that it “seems to have been misused by anonymous actors.”
He said that Telegram is committed to turn moderation on the platform from an area of criticism into one of praise. “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,” he said.
Earlier after being released from his detention, Durov had said that he hopes “that the events of August will result in making Telegram — and the social networking industry as a whole — safer and stronger.”
Here's Durov's message in full:
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Today, we’re introducing new features while phasing out a few outdated ones.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.
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