Telegram founder Pavel Durov posted his first message after his release, expressing his gratitude for the support:
“Thank you all for your support and love!”
Durov said he was questioned by French police four days after arriving in Paris. He was informed that he could be held personally liable for the actions of third parties who use Telegram for illegal purposes, as French authorities had not received the necessary information from the company.
This surprised Durov for several reasons:
- Telegram has an official representative in the EU, available to communicate with law enforcement. Contact information was available online.
- French authorities could contact Durov directly, as he is a French citizen and has previously helped, for example, set up a hotline to combat terrorist threats in France.
- In civilized practice, it is accepted that if the authorities are dissatisfied with an Internet service, they will file a complaint against the company, rather than trying to prosecute its director.
“Using pre-smartphone laws to blame a CEO for crimes committed by third parties on a platform he controls is the wrong approach. Building technology is hard enough. No innovator is going to build new tools if they know what could happen.” “They are held personally responsible for potential misuse of these tools,” he said.
Durov stressed that finding a balance between privacy and security is not easy, and Telegram is always open to dialogue with regulators, although it is not always possible to reach an agreement. He also noted that the company is willing to leave markets where its principles clash with the demands of the authorities, as was the case in Russia and Iran.
“We have done this many times. When Russia demanded that we hand over ‘encryption keys’ to enable surveillance, we refused – and Telegram was banned in Russia. When Iran demanded that we block the channels of peaceful protesters, we refused – and Telegram was banned in Iran. “We are ready to abandon markets that are incompatible with our principles, because we are not in it for money. We are driven by the intention to do good and protect people’s basic rights, especially in places where these rights are violated,” he stressed.
Telegram continues to work on improving content moderation and strengthening security in response to its growing user base to 950 million. Durov promised to take further steps in this direction soon.
Previously, Cursor talked about 5 facts about Pavel Durov that are worth knowing.
