Speaking to the media, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia has no plans to block Telegram after the terrorist attack, but asked Telegram CEO Pavel Durov to pay more attention.
“We expect more attention from Pavel Durov, because in fact this unique and extraordinary application of technology is increasingly becoming a tool in the hands of terrorists, used for terrorist purposes,” Peskov said.
Crocus City Hall Theatre burned down after a terrorist attack. Photo: Reuters
Telegram is a popular messaging app in Russia and around the world, headquartered in Dubai. Telegram's owner is Pavel Durov, 39, born in Russia and living in Dubai (UAE). He left Russia in 2014.
Following the Kremlin's comments, Durov posted a post on Telegram, saying he had taken immediate measures to block a series of anonymous accounts posting messages that appeared to call for new acts of violence.
“Tens of thousands of attempts to send such messages were blocked, and thousands of Telegram accounts trying to send these messages faced permanent account bans,” Durov wrote.
From next week, users will be able to limit who sends them personal messages, he said, and artificial intelligence mechanisms will be introduced to filter out unwanted communications. "Telegram is not a place for spam or calls to violence," Durov said.
Russia's RIA news agency said the terrorists were gathered through an extremist Telegram channel of the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) organization.
According to TASS, Telegram has removed more than 256,000 banned materials since 2021 to date at the request of the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications.
Ngoc Anh (according to TASS, RIA, Reuters)
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