Telegram CEO Pavel Durov releases first statement after France arrest, calls his detention ‘misguided’

In his first statement following the arrest in France, Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov said that the detention was “misguided”. He insisted that the French authorities should have first approached his companies with their complaints instead of arresting him over the matter.

On Friday, Durov took to his Telegram channel and said that “he is still trying to understand what happened in France.” The statement came weeks after the Russian-born billionaire was arrested in France and was charged for allegedly allowing criminal activity on the messaging app.

I’m still trying to understand what happened in France. But we hear the concerns. I made it my personal goal to prevent abusers of Telegram’s platform from interfering with the future of our 950+ million users.

My full post below. https://t.co/cDvRSodjst

— Pavel Durov (@durov) September 5, 2024

While commenting on the matter, the Telegram CEO denied that his app was an “anarchic paradise”. He insisted that the arrest was surprising since the French authorities already had access to a “hotline,” he had helped set up, through which they could have directly contacted Telegram’s EU representative at any time.

“If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself,” he wrote. “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,” the tech mogul furthered.

Durov defends his app

While admitting that Telegram was “not perfect,” Durov defended his app from all the criticisms. He went on to deny any abuse associated with the app. “The claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue,” he wrote. “We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day.”

“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,” the 39-year-old billionaire explained.

“I hope that the events of August will result in making Telegram — and the social networking industry as a whole — safer and stronger. Thanks again for your love and memes,” he concluded.

What were the charges?

According to the statement released by the Paris prosecutor involved in the case, the charges placed by the French authorities against Durov are as follows:

• Complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable illicit transactions by an organised gang

• Refusal to communicate with authorities

• Complicity in organised criminal distribution of sexual images of children

It is pertinent to note that in France if a person is “put under investigation” that does not necessarily mean that he is guilty of the crime he has been charged with. It also does not result in trials always. It just means that the judge who is overseeing the case believes that there is enough of a case to proceed with an investigation.

Durov’s case is unprecedented when it comes to the owner of a social media platform being arrested because of the way the platform is being used. In the past, tech bosses have been lectured by lawmakers about their practices and failings, but they have never been detained in such a manner.

With inputs from agencies.