Messaging app Telegram quietly removes 'chat not moderated' statement from its official website after CEO arrest

Telegram, the messaging app whose founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France, has quietly removed the statement 'Private chats are not moderated' from its official website after his arrest.

Telegram changes its tone on moderating private chats after CEO's arrest - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/5/24237254/telegram-pavel-durov-arrest-private-chats-moderation-policy-change

Telegram has been promoting itself as a messaging app that prioritizes privacy, but its founder and CEO, Durov, was arrested by the French Gendarmerie at around 8 p.m. local time on Saturday, August 24, 2024. Durov had an arrest warrant based on a preliminary investigation conducted by OFMIN, a French investigative agency that focuses on child sexual exploitation.

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov reportedly arrested in France - GIGAZINE

Durov has since been charged with 'disseminating child abuse images,' 'drug trafficking,' and 'failing to comply with law enforcement requests.'

Telegram CEO arrested and charged with 12 crimes including 'spreading child abuse images' and 'drug trafficking' - GIGAZINE

Before Durov's arrest, the FAQ section on Telegram's official website, titled ' There is illegal content on Telegram. How do I delete it? ', stated, 'All Telegram chats and group chats are private to the participants and are not available to anyone else. Therefore, we do not process deletion requests related to these chats.' This can be seen by reviewing past entries in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine .

However, at the time of writing, the statement 'We do not process removal requests' has been removed from the section and rewritten to read, 'All Telegram apps have a 'Report' button that allows you to report illegal content to moderators with just a few taps.'

Telegram FAQ
https://telegram.org/faq

When technology media The Verge asked Telegram why it changed the description in the FAQ, the company's spokesperson Remi Vaughn responded, 'Private chats (chats used by individuals and group chats) will remain private. However, you can always report new chats to moderators using the 'report' button. Anyone can check Telegram's open source code and see that no changes were made.' Vaughn said there were no changes to the source code and claims that there were no changes to the software.

Immediately after Durov was arrested by the National Gendarmerie, Telegram issued a statement saying it had 'nothing to hide' and asserted its innocence.

However, this is the first official statement from Durov since his arrest by the National Gendarmerie on September 6, 2024 local time, promising to strengthen content moderation on Telegram. 'The sudden increase in Telegram users to 950 million has created a situation where criminals can easily exploit the platform,' Durov said. 'Therefore, I have made it my personal goal to significantly improve this point. We have already started the process internally, and we will provide details on our progress soon,' he said, promising to work on improving content moderation.

I'm still trying to understand what happened in France. But we hear the concerns. I made it my personal goal to prevent abusers of Telegram's platform from interfering with the future of our 950+ million users.

My full post below. https://t.co/cDvRSodjst

— Pavel Durov (@durov) September 5, 2024

In addition, the description of Telegram's FAQ was changed within 24 hours of Mr. Durov's official statement, which suggests that Telegram's policy has changed significantly at the request of Mr. Durov.