Telegram Removes Some Features, Adds Few As Pavel Durov Faces Criminal Charges In France

New Delhi: Pavel Durov, the CEO of cloud-based instant messaging service Telegram, who is facing criminal charges in France, said that the cross-platform, social media app is removing some features that have been used for “illegal activities”.
Pavel Durov said that Telegram will remove “People Nearby” feature as it had issues with bots and scammers and replace it with “Businesses Nearby”.
Telegram also disabled media uploads to its standalone blogging tool Telegraph.
Du Rove’s Channel posted on Telegram:

Telegram has reached 10 million paid subscribers. 10 million people are now enjoying Telegram Premium!
Today, we’re introducing new features while phasing out a few outdated ones.
We’ve removed the People Nearby feature, which was used by less than 0.1% of Telegram users, but had issues with bots and scammers.
In its place, we will be launching “Businesses Nearby”, showcasing legitimate, verified businesses. These businesses will be able to display product catalogs and accept payments seamlessly.
We’ve also disabled new media uploads to Telegraph, our standalone blogging tool, which seems to have been misused by anonymous actors.
While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk.
That’s why this year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise.

About Telegram
Telegram was founded in 2013 by Nikolai and Pavel Durov. Its servers are distributed worldwide with several data centers. It has its headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
As of July 2024, Telegram had more than 950 million monthly active users, with India leading in the number of users, according to a report.