Key Takeaways
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has slammed French authorities, calling his arrest last week over lackluster moderation on his messaging app “misguided.”
In his first public statement since being detained, shared on Telegram, Durov denied claims that Telegram was an “anarchic paradise” and said it was “surprising” that he could be held personally responsible.
The Russian-born CEO said the investigation into Telegram was surprising, as French authorities had access to a “hotline” he had helped set up.
He alleges they could have contacted Telegram’s EU representative whenever they liked.
“If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself,” Durov wrote on Telegram.
“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.”
Durov said the claims “in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue.”
The CEO added that the platform takes down “millions of harmful posts and channels every day.”
Telegram, which Durov founded in 2013, is ranked as one of the world’s leading social media platforms, alongside industry heavyweights such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and TikTok.
Some regulators have criticized the application, arguing that Telegram’s large group allowance, up to 200,000 members, makes it easier for misinformation to spread.
Durov admitted that the application is “not perfect” and said the dramatic increase in user count to 950 million “caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”
“That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard,“ he wrote. “We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon.”
The comments come after Durov was arrested at a Paris airport in late August following an escalation of the French authorities investigation into Telegram.
Durov was detained and held in judicial custody for 96 hours before being brought before a French court to face a series of serious allegations.
The French authorities levied 12 charges against the billionaire founder, which included failure to comply with authorities, failure to stop drug trafficking and child pornography on the messaging platform, and more.
Durov was released from detention on a 5 million euro bail, subject to the condition that the CEO remain in the country and report to a police station twice a week.