Tech Desk
Sep 06, 2024
Telegram has allowed users to report private chats to its moderators, following the arrest of founder Pavel Durov in France last month over “crimes committed by third parties” on the platform.
The popular cross-platform instant messaging app, which serves nearly one billion monthly active users, has maintained a reputation for minimal supervision of user interactions. The previous language on the frequently asked questions (FAQ) page said the private chats were protected from moderation requests.
Previously, the FAQ page stated: “All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them.”
“All Telegram apps have “Report” buttons that allow you to flag illegal content for our moderators — in just a few taps,” the company added on its updated FAQ page.
Moreover, the platform has offered an email address for automated takedown requests, suggesting users to add links in the content requiring moderator attention.
However, it’s still unclear, if this change affects Telegram’s ability to respond to requests from law enforcement agencies. The company has previously cooperated with court orders to share some information about its users.
Read more: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France
Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn told TechCrunch that users could “always report messages from any group to moderators,” a mechanism that “acts like forwarding.” The change in the FAQ only makes it “clearer how to report content on Telegram, including through DSA.”
The update in the FAQ language follows Durov’s arrest by French authorities in connection with an investigation into crimes related to child sexual abuse images, drug trafficking, and fraudulent transactions.
In response to the arrest news, Durov uploaded on his Telegram channel, criticising the action: “Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach.”
He explained that the established practice for countries dissatisfied with an internet service is to initiate legal action against the service itself, instead of its management.
Durov advised that if entrepreneurs were held responsible for potential abuse of their products, “no innovator would ever build new tools.”
