For the first time, Durov commented on the accusations against him: Telegram is ready to leave the markets
Telegram founder Pavlo Durov commented for the first time on the decision of the French court regarding the charges brought against him, saying that he completely denies them and is surprised by his detention. Appropriate statement he published in his Telegram channel.
Durov said that after arriving in Paris, he was interrogated by the police for four days. He has been accused of being personally liable for the illegal actions of Telegram users, as French authorities have not received a response to their inquiries into the messenger.
He called such accusations “strange” and emphasized that usually, if a country is dissatisfied with the work of an Internet service, a court case is initiated against the service itself, not its manager.
“If a country is unhappy with an internet service, it’s standard practice to start legal action against the service itself. Using smartphone-era laws to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on a platform he controls is the wrong approach.”, – stressed Durov.
Durov acknowledged that striking a balance between privacy and security is a complex task that requires coordination of local and international laws, as well as technical capabilities.
He assured that Telegram is always ready for dialogue with regulators, but noted that in some cases the company cannot reach an agreement with the country’s authorities on the balance between the right to privacy and security requirements. In such cases, according to Durov, Telegram is ready to leave markets that are incompatible with the principles of the platform.
“Sometimes we can’t agree with a country’s regulatory body on the right balance between privacy and security. In those cases, we’re willing to leave that country. We have many times. When Russia demanded we hand over ‘encryption keys’ to enable surveillance, we refused — and Telegram was banned in Russia. When Iran asked us to block the channels of peaceful protestors, we refused and Telegram was banned in Iran. We are ready to leave the markets that are not compatible with our principles. We are not doing it for the sake of the good and protect the basic rights of people, especially in places where these rights are violated”, – said Durov.
Pavlo Durov also denied the statements of some media that Telegram is an “anarchic paradise.” He noted that every day the messenger team removes millions of malicious posts and channels and publishes transparency reports.
“We remove millions of malicious posts and channels every day. We publish daily transparency reports. However, we hear voices saying that this is not enough. Telegram’s dramatic increase in the number of users to 950 million has made it easier for criminals to abuse the platform. That is why I set myself the goal to significantly improve the state of affairs in this aspect. We have already started this internal process and I will tell you more soon.”, – concluded Durov.
As you know, on August 24, 2024, Pavlo Durov was arrested in France, where he has citizenship. On August 28, the court released him from custody for further questioning, but placed him under judicial supervision and a ban on leaving the country.
Among the charges against Durov are refusal to provide information to law enforcement officers, as well as complicity in illegal transactions, drug trafficking, possession of child pornography and fraud. If he is found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
