Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been arrested in France on charges of “criminal neglect.” Telegram is a messenger app that has strong security, but has been heavily criticized for being used for criminal purposes. Launched in 2013 by Russian brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, it was initially used primarily as a cryptocurrency community. It has since grown significantly, becoming known for its refusal to close anti-government channels in Russia and for its strict protection of personal information by Iranian protesters. It is now a service used by 900 million people worldwide.
On the 24th, Droup, a French citizen of Russian origin, was provisionally indicted on 12 charges including possession and distribution of child pornography, drug trafficking, and conspiracy to commit organized crime. French investigators released him on bail of 5 million euros (approximately 7.4 billion won), but are continuing their investigation while he is banned from leaving the country.
In response, Dropp posted a 600-word statement on Telegram. While criticizing the arrest of individuals rather than companies for what happened on the platform, he acknowledged the problems Telegram has experienced as it grows rapidly. He said Telegram is not perfect and is not meant to be an anarchic paradise, and laid out several measures to prevent misuse by criminals.
First, we are removing the 'People Nearby' feature, which was used for stalking or to find dealer locations. Instead, we will launch the 'Businesses Nearby' feature, which only shows legally verified businesses. We have also disabled the 'Telegraph' feature, which is an anonymous blog.
The FAQ has removed the statement “Private chats are protected and we do not process requests related to them” and has instead added the statement “Every Telegram app has a ‘Report’ button that allows you to report illegal content to the moderators in just a few taps.”
Telegram channels can accommodate up to 200,000 people. Only administrators can send messages, and media can be uploaded in excess of 2 gigabytes at a time, so messages spread quickly. The later added 'supergroup' feature means that if a chat room is deleted, the content is deleted for all users, making it difficult to track.
The New York Times analyzed over 16,000 Telegram channels and over 3.2 million messages over four months, and found countless transactions involving drugs, illegal weapons, and financial accounts. In Korea, a recent investigation by the Hankyoreh found a paid service that uses AI to create nude versions of photos uploaded by users. There are even separate rooms for sharing deepfake sexual crime material by region and school, with hundreds of thousands of participants.
