Pavel Durov first commented → on his recent detention in France. He revealed that officials had suggested he could be held personally liable for illegal activities carried out on Telegram by its users, as the platform had not responded to certain legal requests from France.
Telegram has an official representative in the EU that accepts and replies to EU requests. The French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance,
Pavel Durov stated, adding that as a French citizen, he has frequently visited the French consulate in Dubai.
Pavel Durov pointed out that Telegram had previously collaborated with French authorities, assisting in the creation of a hotline to combat terrorism threats.
However, he criticized the authorities' recent step, arguing that it is "a misguided approach" to hold a CEO accountable for crimes committed by third parties on the platform.
If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself.
Pavel Durov explained:
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.
Pavel Durov also highlighted the difficulty of balancing privacy and security, especially in regions with conflicting legal frameworks and technological limitations. He expressed a commitment to working with regulators but emphasized that Telegram would prioritize its principles, which are centered around protecting user privacy.
Addressing the platform's growing user base, which now reaches 950 million, Durov acknowledged that Telegram's rapid growth has led to problems, especially in combating criminal use of the 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.
Pavel Durov expressed hope that recent events would "result in making Telegram — and the social networking industry as a whole — safer and stronger".
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