Telegram’s CEO has condemned the French government’s decision to arrest him on Aug. 24.
In a message released on X, Pavel Durov thanked his supporters and discussed his commitment to his social media platform’s values.
Durov said that during the four-day interview, French authorities told him he “may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.”
“Telegram has an official representative in the EU that accepts and replies to EU requests. Its email address has been publicly available for anyone in the EU,” the technology CEO said.
He added that the French government had “numerous ways” to contact him.
“As a French citizen, I was a frequent guest at the French consulate in Dubai,” he wrote. “A while ago, when asked, I personally helped them establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France.”
Durov continued:Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a simplistic approach. 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.
Establishing the right balance between privacy and security is not easy. You have to reconcile privacy laws with law enforcement requirements, and local laws with EU laws. You have to take into account technological limitations. As a platform, you want your processes to be consistent globally, while also ensuring they are not abused in countries with weak rule of law. We’ve been committed to engaging with regulators to find the right balance.
The 39-year-old noted that Telegram was blocked in both Russia and Iran when the nations’ governments asked for information that violated the company’s values.
“We stand by our principles: our experience is shaped by our mission to protect our users in authoritarian regimes. But we’ve always been open to dialogue,” wrote Durov. “We are prepared to leave markets that aren’t compatible with our principles, because we are not doing this for money. We are driven by the intention to bring good and defend the basic rights of people, particularly in places where these rights are violated.”
The CEO was arrested after his private plane landed at Le Bourget Airport. The French government has accused Telegram and Durov of failing to cooperate while authorities investigated accusations of fraud, distribution of child sexual content and drug trafficking.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned reports of “false information” in a statement on X days after Durov’s arrest.
“France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship,” wrote Macron. “The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter.”
