PARIS, France –
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov promised to step up efforts to combat criminality on the messaging app, his first public feedback since French authorities handed him preliminary expenses for allegedly permitting the platform’s use for legal exercise.
In a Telegram publish late Thursday, Durov defended himself towards the French judicial investigation, suggesting that he should not have been focused personally.
“Utilizing legal guidelines from the pre-smartphone period to cost a CEO with crimes dedicated by third events on the platform he manages is a misguided method,” the publish mentioned. “Constructing know-how is difficult sufficient as it’s. No innovator will ever construct new instruments in the event that they know they are often personally held answerable for potential abuse of these instruments.”
Whereas insisting that Telegram just isn’t “some kind of anarchic paradise,” Durov mentioned surging numbers of Telegram customers “brought on rising pains that made it simpler for criminals to abuse our platform.”
“That’s why I made it my private aim to make sure we considerably enhance issues on this regard. We’ve already began that course of internally, and I’ll share extra particulars on our progress with you very quickly,” he mentioned.
French investigators detained Durov at Le Bourget airport exterior Paris in late August and questioned him for 4 days as a part of a sweeping probe opened earlier this 12 months. Launched on 5 million euros bail, Durov has to report back to a police station twice every week. Russia-born, he has amassed a number of citizenships, together with French.
French allegations towards Durov embrace that Telegram is used for youngster sexual abuse materials and drug trafficking, and that the platform refused to share data or paperwork with investigators when required by legislation.
In his publish, Durov mentioned that whereas in police detention, “I used to be informed I could also be personally answerable for different individuals’s unlawful use of Telegram, as a result of the French authorities didn’t obtain responses from Telegram.”
“This was stunning for a number of causes,” he added.
He mentioned Telegram has an official consultant within the European Union who replies to EU requests, with a public electronic mail deal with.
Telegram’s web site informs customers that they will contact the app via a bot and features a hyperlink to report unlawful content material. It additionally consists of an electronic mail deal with and telephone quantity for “competent authorities of the EU and EU members” to make use of. “If you’re not a reliable EU or EU member authority, your request is not going to be processed,” it says.
In his publish, Durov mentioned “French authorities had quite a few methods to achieve me to request help.” He mentioned he additionally had beforehand labored with them to “set up a hotline with Telegram to take care of the specter of terrorism in France.”
“If a rustic is sad with an web service, the established apply is to start out a authorized motion towards the service itself,” he mentioned.
