Telegram strengthens moderators’ power after CEO’s arrest

More than ten days after the arrest of its CEO, Telegram has decided to radically change its stance on the “illegal” use of its messages. One of the most drastic measures was to extend the scope of its moderators to include private chats.

For the first time since its inception, Telegram private chat users will be able to flag “illegal content” and submit it for review. The new directive came on Thursday (05), when Telegram published a change to its Q&A page.

An older version of the same page said that Telegram treated private groups as “off limits.” That is, these groups had a higher degree of privacy than groups open to the public.

The move is likely intended to bring Telegram’s guidelines into line with anti-crime regulations. In fact, this alleged “lack of control” was one of the reasons Pavel Durov was arrested in France on August 24. The CEO was granted provisional release, but is banned from leaving French territory.

Telegram policy change

The quiet policy shift could reshape Telegram’s perceived position as a facilitator of all the forms of illegality that French authorities are alleging. Last month, France arrested Durov for allowing alleged criminal activity to flourish on the app.

Durov has dismissed the charges as unfounded but is expected to remain in France awaiting trial. In his defense, the CEO said the social network has no control over the content disseminated in private Telegram groups.

“All Telegram chats and group chats are private between their participants. We do not process any requests related to them,” Durov said. However, French authorities still charged him with involvement in a range of activities, from money laundering to “disseminating inappropriate content.”

On Thursday, Durov made a post on Telegram where he changed some of his stance. According to the text, the CEO acknowledged that the rapid growth of the app “has made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.” Finally, Durov promised changes.

“I am still trying to understand what happened in France. But we have heard the concerns. I have made it my personal goal to prevent abusers of the Telegram platform from interfering with the future of our more than 950 million users,” Durov added.

As of this writing, greater moderation power was the only change Telegram had announced.

Follow Todaysgist on