Telegram Disables ‘Misused’ Features as CEO Faces Criminal Charges

Telegram has reached 10 million paying subscribers. 10 million people are now enjoying Telegram Premium!

Today we are introducing new features while removing some deprecated features.

We removed the People Nearby feature, which was used by less than 0.1% of Telegram users but had issues with bots and scammers.

Instead, we’ll be launching “Nearby Businesses,” which will showcase legitimate, verified businesses. These businesses will be able to display product catalogs and accept payments seamlessly.

We have also disabled new media uploads to Telegraph, our standalone blogging tool, which appears 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, endangering the interests of our nearly 1 billion users.

That’s why this year we’re committed to transforming moderation on Telegram from an area of ​​criticism to one of praise.