Paris:

Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov said Monday that the messaging platform had removed more “problematic content”, weeks after his arrest in France on charges of failing to act against criminals using the app.

Telegram’s search feature “has been abused by people who violated our terms of service to sell illegal goods”, Durov told the 13 million subscribers of his personal messaging channel.

“Over the past few weeks” staff had combed through Telegram using artificial intelligence to ensure “all the problematic content we identified in Search is no longer accessible”, he said.

Durov added that the platform had updated its terms of service and privacy policy to make clear that it would share infringers’ details with authorities — including internet IP addresses and phone numbers — “in response to valid legal requests”.

“We won’t let bad actors jeopardise the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users,” he said.

Durov was arrested on August 24 as he arrived at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on a private jet.

After days of questioning, he was charged with several counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content and released on a five-million-euro ($5.6 million) bail.

During the investigation he must remain in France and report to police twice a week.

Durov — who holds Russian, French and United Arab Emirates passports — initially criticised his arrest, but he has since announced steps appearing to bow to Paris’s demands.

On September 6, he said Telegram would alter its “people nearby” feature to present users with “legitimate businesses” rather than “bots and scammers”.

“This year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise,” he said at the time.

Durov, an enigmatic figure who rarely speaks in public, has a fortune estimated at $15.5 billion by Forbes magazine, but touts the virtues of an ascetic life that includes ice baths and not drinking alcohol or coffee.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, French local media said, citing unnamed sources.
They said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police had no comment. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was taking steps to “clarify” the situation and questioned whether Western non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would seek his release..

What is known about Durov and Telegram:

* Russian-born Durov, 39, is the founder and owner of messaging app Telegram, a free-to-use platform that competes with other social media platforms such as Facebook’s WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. The platform aims to surpass one billion active monthly users within a year.

* Telegram is influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It has become a critical source of information on Russia’s war in Ukraine, used heavily by both Moscow and Kyiv officials. Some analysts call the app “a virtual battlefield” for the war.

* Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VKontakte social media platform, which he sold.

* Russian and French media say Durov became a French citizen in 2021. He moved himself and Telegram to Dubai in 2017.

* “I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone,” Durov told US journalist Tucker Carlson in April about his exit from Russia and search for a home for his company which included stints in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.

* In the same interview, Durov said that, beyond money or Bitcoin, he had no major property such as real estate, jets or yachts, as he wanted to be free.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)