- Telegram ready to exit markets that are not compatible with its principles
- Pavel Durov said Telegram has an EU representative who handles regulatory enquiries
- Durov said he frequently visited the French Consulate in Dubai
Pavel Durov, the founder and chief executive officer of the social messaging platform Telegram, has broken his silence since he was arrested and charged by authorities in France. Durov revealed his position, clarified some of the issues raised during his arrest and arraignment, and announced the company’s readiness to leave markets that do not align with its principles.
In a message on his Messenger channel, Durov said, like others in the crypto and tech spaces, he was surprised that the French government arrested and arraigned him. He said Telegram has an official European representative who handles all regulations and law enforcement issues and wondered why the French government ignored the available avenue just to arrest him.
Durov, who has Russian and French citizenship, claimed he frequently visited the French Consulate in Dubai and wondered why the authorities were taking extreme measures to tackle an issue that could be resolved without raising furore.
“The French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance. As a French citizen, I was a frequent guest at the French consulate in Dubai. A while ago, when asked, I personally helped them establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France.”
Durov also explained that he was not pleased with the French authorities charging him as an individual instead of Telegram as a company. This, he said, is capable of inhibiting individuals and visionaries from building new tools in the tech space.
“If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself. 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. 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,” the message read.
Pavel Durov’s message. Source: Pavel Durov/Telegram
He further explained that “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. Yes, 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.”
Durov revealed that Telegram is ready to protect and preserve free speech and would not mind exiting jurisdictions that would not allow it to do that.
“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,” he said.
Durov was arrested on August 24 as he stepped down from his private jet at the Le Bourget airport north of Paris. On August 28, Durov was released from police custody and charged. He has been banned from leaving France while the case goes on, and his bail has been placed above $5 million.
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