In a post on Telegram Friday, founder and CEO Pavel Durov set out a new approach for the app and announced it’s disabled some “outdated” features. The first changes to the app following his arrest in France last month affect its built-in blog posts and a “People Nearby” location-based feature.
The changes come as Durov attempts to reverse Telegram’s reputation as a hotspot for criminal activity that came as a result of lax moderation policies. In late August, French authorities arrested and charged Durov with enabling legal transactions and complicity in the distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Durov’s first post-arrest statement Thursday said, “Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it…