Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, “disgusted” by “the seriousness of the facts” accused of his application

JUSTICE – Offenses “bad for society and business”who have it “personally disgusted”. The founder of Telegram Pavel Durov, indicted in Paris for complicity in criminal activities, admitted before the investigating judges that he had “became aware in police custody of the seriousness of the facts” criticized its platform and promised to” improve “ its moderation. During his indictment at the end of August, Pavel Durov first blamed the French failure to alert, according to statements obtained this Saturday January 18 by AFP.

And he assured that he had always been “available and ready to respond to all requests” emanating from France. Moreover, Pavel Durov assures that the “French authorities”including “the president’s office, the French consul in Dubai” even “a DGSI agent”internal intelligence, knew his “Telegram personal account” and his « lieu » of residence.

The DGSI agent said he was satisfied with Telegram's cooperation but, according to him, other investigative services requested information. “wrong email addresses”. At each signal, “I did my best” to answer “up to par”assured the 40-year-old billionaire.

On December 6, for his first interrogation on the merits, Pavel Durov nevertheless admitted to having “became aware of the seriousness of all these facts (…) in police custody”. Il “did not create” Telegram in 2013 with his brother “for criminals” but their presence, “a tiny fraction”, “has also increased”then concedes this man who has several nationalities, including French.

Around fifteen groups dedicated to child crime

The judges wonder: does the platform accurately verify the identity of its users? “No, and I think this is the case for all messaging”answers Pavel Durov. They also question him about the encryption of part of the conversations. A “industry standard”retorts Pavel Durov, satisfied that no Telegram employee “can have access to messages” and generate “a leak”because an algorithm manages the decoding.

The judges then detail around fifteen groups dedicated to child crime, narcotics, scams, weapons, the search for assassins, sometimes having a presence on the platform, which earned the CEO of Telegram his indictment for complicity in criminal activities.

“Are you aware that the ease of use of Telegram allows anyone to access illicit platforms, in a much simpler way than on the dark web? »they ask him. Pavel Durov is “disagree”. Telegram is ” effective “ and deletes monthly “15 to 20 million user accounts and one to two million channels and groups”.

The billionaire blames the lack of feedback from the justice system or associations, and claims to have recently launched partnerships with some of them. “Why not ()have done it before? »insists a judge, also recalling the media alerts. Pavel Durov recognizes a new ” error “ : having considered that the latter did not include “never anything solid”.

Two billion dollars of debt

A judge also questions him about the “People Nearby” function, suspected of having provided location-based criminal services. “In the majority of countries”this option, remodeled after police custody, did not serve to “illegal purposes”assures Pavel Durov. The judge squeaks: “France may have a particularity when it comes to gastronomy, but certainly not when it comes to delinquency”.

If the Dubai-based company announced its first annual net profit at the end of December, according to Pavel Durov, it suffers from $2 billion in debt.

“We are committed to improving our moderation processes”he therefore promises, echoing public announcements from September, welcomed by Emmanuel Macron, on his increased collaboration with the judicial authorities or on the moderation which must become “a pride”. “My teams have made a lot of progress”souligne Pavel Durov.

In France, Telegram claims to have responded to four legal requests in the first quarter of 2024, compared to 673 for the last. Over the first six months of 2024, globally, Telegram delivered “identification information (…) concerning more than 10,000 users”according to Pavel Durov. “It’s not much to look at” of your claimed 950 million users, says an investigating magistrate.

The judges must now re-examine Pavel Durov in detail, who must provide supporting documents.

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