Telegram has quietly updated its policy to allow users to report private conversations to its moderators, after its founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France last month on charges of “crimes committed by third parties” on the platform, according to Techcrunch.
The messaging app, which serves nearly 1 billion monthly active users, has long maintained a reputation for minimal oversight of user interactions.
Telegram began rolling out changes to its moderation policy on Thursday night. According to an updated FAQ page, “All Telegram apps have report buttons that let you report illegal content to our moderators in just a few clicks.”
The platform has also introduced an email address for automated removal requests and instructed users to include links to content that requires a moderator’s attention.
It remains unclear whether these changes are in response to requests from law enforcement agencies for increased content moderation. Telegram has previously complied with court orders, sharing some information about its users when necessary.
These policy changes follow the arrest of Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, by French authorities in connection with an investigation into child pornography, drug trafficking, and fraudulent transactions.
In response to his arrest, Durov posted on his Telegram channel criticizing the move, saying, “Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to accuse a CEO of crimes committed by third parties on the platform he runs is a misguided approach.”
He pointed out that the standard practice for countries dissatisfied with the internet service is to take legal action against the service itself, not its management.
Durov warned that if entrepreneurs were held responsible for any potential abuse of their products, “no innovator would ever build new tools.”
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