In a lengthy post on the Telegram channel, his first comment since his arrest, Durov said it was “surprising” that he was held responsible for other people’s content. “To use laws that predate the smartphone era and charge a CEO for crimes committed by third parties on a platform he controls is the wrong approach,” he said.
Mr. Durov criticized claims that Telegram is some kind of “anarchic paradise” as “absolutely untrue” and claimed: “Every day we delete millions of harmful messages and channels.”
He denied French accusations that Paris had not received Telegram’s “responses to its requests” and said he had personally helped French authorities “set up a hotline with Telegram to combat the threat of terrorism in France.”
“Growing Pains”
However, at the end of the report, Mr. Durov softened the tone, saying that Telegram’s rapidly growing number of users, which he believes now stands at 950 million worldwide, “caused growing pains and made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”
“That’s why I’ve set a goal to guarantee that we will improve significantly in this regard,” he said.
“I hope that Telegram and the entire social networking industry in general will become safer and stronger after the events of August,” Mr. Durov added.
He also said that if Telegram can’t come to an agreement with local regulators on “the right balance of privacy and security,” “we’re ready to leave that country.”
After four days of arrest in France, Mr. Durov, 39, was charged with multiple charges of failing to limit extremist and illegal content on the Telegram channel.
He received support from fellow tech mogul and social network X CEO Elon Musk, who posted comments with the hashtag #FreePavel.
Mr. Durov was arrested on August 24. He arrived at Bourges airport near Paris by private plane and was questioned by investigators, later released on parole for 5 million. EUR bail and on the condition that he will come to the police station twice a week and stay in France.
Mr. Durov is an enigmatic figure who rarely speaks publicly, a citizen of Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates, where the Telegram channel is based.
Forbes magazine estimates his wealth at 15.5 billion. dollars, but he proudly promotes the virtues of an ascetic life, bathes in cold water, does not drink alcohol and coffee.
2024-09-06 09:58:34