Just a fair warning to other groups owners.

DO NOT switch on the new aggressive antispam feature.

It will delete all COVID related messages, links and posts.

I switched it on in my group and I saw the results. I hope telegram doesn't make it into a built in feature.

It can't be undone. I will post some examples of what it deleted.

(original message from user @One_qonee)

Additionally, your account may be limited if you post content that the “aggressive anti-spam bot” flags as problematic. It’s easy to avoid problems by not turning on the function, because we channel owners can just keep doing what we have been doing, but if individual users are having their accounts flagged and limited for simply using the wrong keyword this is a massive problem that @Durov needs to address immediately.

Further, even though I was excited about it at first because of how terribly spam and scammers have been allowed to proliferate on this platform (problem-reaction-solution) I can see future problems with platform based “anti-spam” censorship being used to suppress real speech under the guise of “bot control” while continuing to masquerade as a “free speech” platform.

I personally will refrain from using this anti-spam function for now, at least until it’s been proven it’s only eliminating proven scammers and junk, and an appeals process with clear instructions and rules is implemented.

@AltSkull48