Telegram has made some major changes to its platform. The company has removed its 'People Nearby' feature from the as it was reportedly being used by scammers for promoting illicit activities on the platform. The news was announced by Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on a post on X (formerly Twitter). In his post, the Telegram CEO said that the feature was being used by 0.1 percent people and that it was being used by bots and scammers.

"We’ve removed the People Nearby feature, which was used by less than 0.1% of Telegram users, but had issues with bots and scammers," Durov wrote in his post on X.

What is Telegram's 'People Nearby' feature?

It is worth noting that Telegram had introduced the 'People Nearby' feature back in 2019. At the time, the feature enabled users to connect with other Telegram users near their location. Then in 2020, the company introduced the People Nearby 2.0 feature for 'exchanging contact info face-to-face'.

What happens to Telegram's 'People Nearby' feature?

In his post, the Telegram founder said that the company is replacing the People Nearby feature with a new feature called ' Business Nearby'. This feature will show verified businesses within the app along with their product catalogues. Businesses will also be able to accept payments using this feature. "In its place, we will be launching “Businesses Nearby”, showcasing legitimate, verified businesses. These businesses will be able to display product catalogs and accept payments seamlessly," Durov added in his post.

That said, People Nearby is not the only feature that Telegram has removed from the app. In his post, Durov said that the company has also disabled new media uploads to Telegraph, which is Telegram's standalone blogging tool, as it was being misused by anonymous actors.

"While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk," the Telegram founder added.