Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has criticized French authorities for detaining him, stating they should have contacted his company through established channels instead of holding him personally responsible for illegal activities on the platform.
Speaking out twelve days after his arrest, Durov expressed his surprise at the approach taken by French officials, particularly as Telegram had set up a hotline and a dedicated EU representative to handle any legal requests.
Durov, who was detained in connection with an investigation into the use of Telegram for distributing child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking, and fraudulent transactions, denied accusations that the platform enables widespread criminal activity. In his statement, he acknowledged that Telegram has faced growing difficulties in moderating content as its user base has surged to 950 million. Despite these challenges, he emphasized the company’s efforts to remove millions of harmful posts and channels daily and stressed that claims of Telegram being an “anarchic paradise” are unfounded.
While he admitted that managing the balance between privacy and security is complex, Durov stood by Telegram’s core principles, particularly its refusal to comply with government demands for access to user data, such as in Russia and Iran, where the platform was banned after resisting requests for surveillance. He maintained that Telegram’s mission remains focused on protecting user privacy, particularly in regions where civil liberties are under threat.
Durov also suggested that the French authorities could have taken legal action against the platform itself rather than detaining him, highlighting that using outdated laws to hold a CEO accountable for third-party misuse of technology is a flawed approach.
He expressed a personal commitment to improving Telegram’s handling of illegal activity on the platform, stating that internal processes to address these issues are already underway.
You can read the full statement by Pavel Durov here.
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