Games

How Telegram changed after Durov's arrest

Pavel Durov backtracks and announces changes to privacy and moderation

13 September 2024

3' min read

After the arrest and release of Telegram's co-founder on €5 million bail, the owner was forced to throw water on the fire in order to clear itself of the heavy accusations of failing to comply with European laws on encryption and cooperation with the authorities on security matters. Already on 5 September, the app had quietly introduced new rules on content moderation, removing from its FAQ site the statement guaranteeing the protection of private chats from moderation requests. The flag of 'freedom at all costs' waved by Pavel Durov was lowered once and for all when, on 6 September, on his Telegram channel, he announced new rules on content moderation and other improvements from a privacy and security perspective. 'While 99.999 per cent of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001 per cent involved in illicit activities gives a bad image to the entire platform by jeopardising the interests of our almost one billion users,' Durov himself writes.

If anyone had any doubts about the real extent of illegal activity on Telegram, the New York Times has dispelled them with the publication of an investigation with the rather eloquent title: 'How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals'. The analysis shows that out of more than 3.2 million Telegram messages from 16,000 channels in the USA, 1,500 are run by white supremacists, more than 20 were selling weapons, and in at least 22 channels MDMA, cocaine, heroin and other drugs were being sold, even at home. A very different scenario from the 0.001% of illicit activities disclosed by Durov.

The new features and changes to privacy and moderation

A sudden and important change of course, considering that the messaging platform has built its entire reputation on minimal supervision of user interactions. Specifically, Durov announced the removal of the People Nearby feature, which was 'used by less than 0.1 per cent of users and presented problems with bots and scammers'; the introduction of Businesses Nearby to support 'legitimate and verified business activities'; the deactivation of the uploading of new multimedia content on the Telegraph blogging platform, the new platform launched by Telegram, the ''secret'' chat considered to be the safest from the point, 'which appears to have been misused by anonymous actors'; and changes to moderation, which is thus transformed 'from an area of criticism to one of praise'.

SCREENSHOT IMAGE

After the announcement, the first changes announced by Durov were already visible on the platform. Certain sections of Telegram's FAQ page were in fact updated to add the new details of the moderation policy: "All Telegram apps have a 'Report' button that allows you to report illegal content to our moderators," the page reads.

Telegram's track record with governments

Telegram, known for its historically permissive approach to moderation, is therefore trying to adapt to increasing legal and public pressure, especially in Europe, where platforms are under the lens for growing concerns about disinformation, hate speech and online crime. This line was sharply marked after the publication of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the legislation that sets strict requirements on personal data management and content moderation, requiring platforms to remove illegal content and cooperate with the authorities.

After the French case, this is not the first time Telegram has been accused of refusing to cooperate with the authorities. In Brazil, the service was temporarily suspended in 2022 and 2023 for failing to comply with court orders. A similar incident occurred in Germany, where the interior minister threatened to ban the app due to Telegram's failure to respond to official requests, especially in relation to the use of the app by extremist groups to plan acts of violence.

At the beginning of 2024, Spain also blocked Telegram for a short time following complaints by some broadcasters about the dissemination of copyrighted material. The Spanish Supreme Court judge justified the ban by citing Telegram's non-cooperation with ongoing investigations.

The French case therefore represents a turning point, not only for Telegram, but also for other platforms that will have to take this into account from now on. It is almost a warning that comes from a conviction that is increasingly ingrained in governments and among ordinary people: social media are to be held responsible for the illegal actions of their users. At the very least, perhaps not directly responsible, but aiding and abetting them yes.