Telegram has been under unprecedented pressure to clean up its platform this year, after its founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France and faces charges over the alleged harmful content shared on his messaging app.

After announcing a crackdown in September, Telegram now says it has removed 15.4 million groups and channels related to harmful content like fraud and terrorism in 2024, noting this effort was "enhanced with cutting-edge AI moderation tools."

The announcement is part of a newly launched moderation page Telegram has created to better communicate its moderation efforts to the public, according to a post from Durov's Telegram channel. According to Telegram's moderation page, there's a noticeable increase in enforcement after Durov's arrest in August:

Durov's French case is still pending, but he is currently out on €5 million bail.

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/13/ai-helps-telegram-remove-15-million-suspect-groups-and-channels-in-2024/