Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who Russia's financial monitoring agency Rosfinmonitoring has listed as a terrorist and extremist, explained why his messaging app briefly disappeared from Apple's App Store. Writing on his channel, Durov described the scheme that led to the removal and said he had drawn two lessons from it.
Durov said Telegram was removed from the App Store after illegal pornographic content was posted in a group chat. He said Telegram has a moderation system meant to block such material, but it was bypassed because the person who posted the video did not create a new message, instead editing an old one.
Extortion scheme targeted channel owners
Durov said the goal of the attack was extortion. He explained that the scheme involves demanding ransom payments from the owners of various channels, threatening that if they refuse, illegal content will be posted on their channels followed by a complaint that could get the channel removed.
Durov said he took two lessons from the episode. He said the extortionists found a way to manipulate Apple and provoke an excessively strong reaction from the company, and that their tactics keep evolving, putting many channels at risk.
Apple cited child exploitation material
Earlier on Tuesday, August 4, Apple gave its own explanation for Telegram's temporary disappearance from the App Store. Company representatives said they had found material involving the sexual exploitation of children on the app, which was later removed. Telegram's absence from the App Store was first reported on August 4, and the app became available for download again a short time later.
