Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, lashed out at France on Thursday after the country arrested and charged him last month with publishing extremist and illegal content on the popular messaging app.
In a lengthy Telegram post, his first response since his arrest, Durov said he found it “surprising” that he was being held responsible for other people’s content.
“Using pre-smartphone laws to prosecute a CEO for crimes committed by third parties on the platform he controls is a misguided approach,” he said.
He also slammed the claim that “Telegram is some kind of anarchist paradise”, calling it “absolutely false”. He insisted: “We remove millions of harmful messages and channels every day.”
He denied allegations from France that Paris had not received a response from Telegram to their requests. He said he had personally helped French authorities “set up a hotline with Telegram to tackle the terrorist threat in France”.
– ‘Growing Pains’ –
But at the end of his message, Durov struck a more conciliatory tone, saying that Telegram’s rising user base — which he now estimates at 950 million worldwide — was “causing growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”
“That’s why I’ve made it my personal goal to make sure we significantly improve things in this area,” he said, adding that this is being worked on “internally” and that more details will be shared in the future.
“I hope that the events of August will make Telegram, and the social networking industry as a whole, safer and stronger.”
He said that if Telegram could not reach an agreement on the “right balance between privacy and security” with local regulators, “we are ready to leave that country”.
Durov, 39, was charged in France after four days of arrest for failing to combat extremist and illegal content on Telegram.
He received support from fellow tech mogul and X CEO Elon Musk, who posted comments under the hashtag #FreePavel.
Durov was arrested on August 24 at Le Bourget airport, outside Paris, after arriving in a private jet. He was questioned by investigators in the days that followed.
He was released on parole on a bail of five million euros ($5.5 million), was ordered to report to the police station twice a week and was ordered to remain in France.
Durov is an enigmatic figure who rarely speaks in public. He is a citizen of Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates, where Telegram is based.
Forbes magazine estimates his current net worth at $15.5 billion, although he proudly promotes the virtues of an ascetic life, including ice baths and not drinking alcohol or coffee.
as-sjw/bc
