Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Speaks Out After Detention in France

Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Slams France In First Public Comments Since Detention: 'Still Trying To Understand What Happened'

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, who is currently under investigation in France, has publicly criticized French authorities for detaining him instead of addressing their complaints to his company. What Happened: On Thursday, in his first public comment after detention last month, the Russian-born French national, refuted any claims that his app is an "anarchic paradise" and expressed surprise at the investigation. "The French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance," he stated in a post on Telegram, adding, "A while ago, when asked, I personally helped them establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France." Durov was detained in France last month amid an investigation into crimes related to child pornography, drug trafficking, and fraudulent transactions associated with the app. See Also: Mark Cuban Explains Why, Despite Getting A Lot Of Flak From Elon Musk And Others, He Continues To Post On X: 'Don't Want to Be Where Everyone Agrees with Me' Durov argued that if a country has issues with an internet service, legal action should target the service, not its CEO. He stressed that no innovator will develop new tools if they risk personal liability for potential misuse. Sharing the post on X, formerly Twitter, he stated, "I'm still trying to understand what happened in France. But we hear the concerns. I made it my personal goal to prevent abusers of Telegram's platform from interfering with the future of our 950+ million users." Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox. Why It Matters: Durov's detention and the subsequent investigation have been a topic of international discussion. Last month, the Telegram CEO was formally charged by a judge in France for allegedly failing to address criminal activities on his platform. The investigation has also raised questions about Telegram's financial health, which could potentially hinder its $30B IPO. The app has also come under scrutiny in South Korea for its alleged involvement in the dissemination of sexually explicit deepfake content. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on Durov's legal troubles, suggesting that his approach to running the app was too free and that he did not heed Western advice. Meanwhile, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who acquired the social media platform X for $44 billion in 2022, has also said that it would be wise of him to "limit movements to countries where free speech is constitutionally protected." Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link. Image via Shutterstock Read Next: Cathie Wood Congratulates Elon Musk On xAI Milestone After AI Firm Brings 100K Nvidia GPU Colossus Cluster Online In Just 122 Days: 'Many Big Announcements Ahead' Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov: I'm still trying to understand what happened in Franceâ€| - Times of India

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France last month on charges of refusal to cooperate with law enforcement and complicity in managing an online platform “to enable an illegal transaction in an organized group.†He was later released from custody on a â'¬5 million bail. Durov has now released his first official statement after the release. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he said that he is “still trying to understand what happened in France.But we hear the concerns.†The post has a link to his Telegram channel where he said that “Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.†Read more: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Anil Kapoor and other Indians in Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in AI “That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon,†he added. Here’s his full post shared on Telegram Thanks everyone for your support and love! Last month I got interviewed by police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram. This was surprising for several reasons: 1. Telegram has an official representative in the EU that accepts and replies to EU requests. Its email address has been publicly available for anyone in the EU who googles “Telegram EU address for law enforcementâ€. 2. The French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance. As a French citizen, I was a frequent guest at the French consulate in Dubai. A while ago, when asked, I personally helped them establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France. 3. If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself. Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach. Building technology is hard enough as it is. No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools. Establishing the right balance between privacy and security is not easy. You have to reconcile privacy laws with law enforcement requirements, and local laws with EU laws. You have to take into account technological limitations. As a platform, you want your processes to be consistent globally, while also ensuring they are not abused in countries with weak rule of law. We’ve been committed to engaging with regulators to find the right balance. Yes, we stand by our principles: our experience is shaped by our mission to protect our users in authoritarian regimes. But we’ve always been open to dialogue. Sometimes we can’t agree with a country’s regulator on the right balance between privacy and security. In those cases, we are ready to leave that country. We've done it many times. When Russia demanded we hand over “encryption keys†to enable surveillance, we refused â€" and Telegram got banned in Russia. When Iran demanded we block channels of peaceful protesters, we refused â€" and Telegram got banned in Iran. We are prepared to leave markets that aren’t compatible with our principles, because we are not doing this for money. We are driven by the intention to bring good and defend the basic rights of people, particularly in places where these rights are violated. All of that does not mean Telegram is perfect. Even the fact that authorities could be confused by where to send requests is something that we should improve. But the claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue. We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day. We publish daily transparency reports (like this or this ). We have direct hotlines with NGOs to process urgent moderation requests faster. However, we hear voices saying that it’s not enough. Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform. That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon. I hope that the events of August will result in making Telegram â€" and the social networking industry as a whole â€" safer and stronger. Thanks again for your love and memes 🙠The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk’s news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.