In a long message published on Telegram on Thursday, September 5, his first reaction since his arrest, Pavel Durov found it “surprising” to be held responsible for the content published by other people.
The founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging service, Pavel Durov, attacked France on Thursday, September 5, for having arrested and charged him for publishing illegal content on the application.
“Using pre-smartphone laws to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he runs is a misguided approach,” the 39-year-old billionaire said. He also denounced claims that “Telegram is some kind of lawless paradise,” calling them “absolutely false.”
“We delete millions of harmful messages and channels every day,” Pavel Durov insisted.
Heavy judicial control
He refuted France’s accusations that Paris had not received any responses from Telegram to its requests, saying he had personally helped French authorities “establish a hotline with Telegram to address the terrorist threat in France.”
Adopting a more conciliatory tone at the end of his message, Pavel Durov acknowledged that the sharp increase in the number of Telegram users (which he now estimates at 950 million worldwide) had created a situation that “made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”
“That is why I have made it my personal goal to ensure that we significantly improve things in this regard,” he said, adding that the issue was being analyzed “internally” and that further details would be communicated in the future.
He added that if Telegram failed to reach an agreement with local regulators on the “right balance between privacy and security” then “we would be prepared to leave this country.”
After four days in police custody in France, Pavel Durov, who holds Russian, French and Emirati passports, was charged with numerous offences linked to his messaging application and banned from leaving the country.
His heavy judicial supervision also provides for a bail of five million euros and a check-in at the police station twice a week.
