Durov’s arrest bore fruit: Telegram blocked more than 15 million groups and channels in 2024

The administration of the Telegram messenger published statistics on blocking of groups and channels this year – their number reached 15 million. This is how the platform administration responded to accusations from the French authorities of insufficient moderation.

Image source: Rubaitul Azad / unsplash.com

Data on the number of blockings appeared on the Telegram website – these channels, according to the platform administration, violated the service’s policy or legislation. In 2024, 15.3 million groups and channels were blocked, including 702 thousand groups that posted materials containing child abuse content, as well as 129 thousand groups and channels with terrorist themes; More than 100 million pieces of terrorism-related content have been removed.

Image source: telegram.org

Since 2015, moderation has combined proactive monitoring mechanisms using machine learning algorithms, as well as receiving complaints from users; This year, Telegram introduced moderation tools based on artificial intelligence. The founder of the platform, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France on August 24 – he was accused of insufficient moderation and refusal to cooperate with the authorities. Subsequently, he was given the status of a suspect in the distribution of child pornography, fraud and other crimes committed using Telegram. Durov’s first interrogation took place on December 6.

As you can see in the graph above, after Durov’s arrest, the number of blockings increased noticeably.