Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Slams French Authorities In First Post Since Arrest

Telegram Founder and Chief Executive Offcier, Pavel Durov, has publicly criticised French authorities following his arrest last week, which he described as "misguided" and unjust. In his first statement since the arrest, Durov strongly refuted claims that Telegram operates as an "anarchic paradise", describing such allegations as "absolutely untrue".

Durov, who was detained on Aug. 25 at an airport near Paris, faces charges of alleged complicity in facilitating illicit activities on Telegram, including drug trafficking, fraud, and the spread of child sexual abuse material. The arrest came after French authorities accused Telegram of insufficient moderation on the platform.

In a statement published on the social media platform, Durov expressed surprise at the accusations and said that Telegram has an official EU representative responsible for handling such requests. The contact information for this representative is publicly available, he said.

Durov pointed to his past cooperation with French authorities as a French citizen, including assisting in establishing a hotline to address terrorism threats in France. He questioned why the French authorities did not use available channels to contact him directly.

"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...No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools," he said.

Durov acknowledged that finding the right balance between privacy and security is challenging. "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."

Telegram was banned from Russia when it refused to hand over encryption keys to the government. It was likewise banned in Iran after the platform refused to block channels of peaceful protesters, Durov said.

"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," Durov said.