No innovator will create new tools if he knows he can be held personally liable for the potential abuse of those tools. This was announced by Telegram founder Pavel Durov on September 5 on his messaging channel, commenting for the first time on his arrest in France.
“Last month I was questioned by the police in Paris for four days after my arrival. I was told that I may be personally liable for the illegal use of Telegram by others, as the French authorities have not received any responses from Telegram.” – wrote.
Durov called the accusations against him surprising for several reasons. According to him, Telegram has an official representative in the EU who receives and responds to requests. In addition, the French authorities had no obstacles in contacting him directly to ask for help.
“As a French citizen, I have frequently visited the French consulate in Dubai. A while ago, when they asked me about this, I personally helped them set up a hotline using Telegram to combat the threat of terrorism in France.” – Durov said.
He also noted that if a country is dissatisfied with an Internet service, it is established practice to take legal action against the service itself.
“As a platform, you want your processes to be consistent around the world, while ensuring they are not abused in countries with weak rule of law. We are dedicated to working with regulators to find the right balance. Yes, we stand by our principles… But we have always been open to dialogue.” – Durov reported
He also noted that Telegram removes millions of malicious messages and channels every day, as well as publishes transparent daily reports and operates hotlines with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to process urgent requests faster. At the same time, Durov admitted that the sharp increase in the number of Telegram users has caused difficulties, so “criminals can abuse the platform.”
“Therefore, I have set myself a personal goal to ensure significant improvements in this regard. We have already started this process internally and will provide you with more details on our progress shortly. I hope that the events of the past month will lead to Telegram, and the social media industry as a whole, becoming safer and stronger. Thanks again for your love and memes.” – he concluded.
