A week after his release, the founder of Telegram speaks for the first time: he criticises Paris for the arrest and assures that the platform protects its users in authoritarian regimes.
Telegram CEO and founder Pavel Durov, who is under investigation in France, said French authorities should have tried to reach out to the company instead of arresting him and denies the platform is a “lawless paradise.” Durov is being investigated for child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent payment charges associated with his social network.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France
Pavel Durov commented on the case for the first time since his arrest outside Paris, on his Telegram channel, revealing that he was surprised by the actions of the authorities, for several reasons.
First, Durov says that there is a representative of the company in the European Union, with the aim of communicating transparently with the Commission, in case of any request. To counter French accusations that Telegram did not respond to the allegations, which later led to his arrest, the CEO mentioned that as a French citizen, he frequently visited the consulate in Dubai, having established a “hotline” between the country and the company to help France in the face of “terrorist threats”.
Finally, he reiterates the idea that if they had problems with Telegram, the The authorities should have taken legal action against the company. and not against him. He also accuses the country of using laws from “pre-smartphone” times, not adapted to current times, which he considers an “incorrect approach”. This case may discouraging future technological creators, who may be held liable for any improper use of their creation by third parties, he warns.
Durov says he stands firm on the principles with which he founded the social network, “shaped by his mission to protect its users in authoritarian regimes“but they were always available for dialogue.
The founder of this platform also presents the examples of Russia and Iran, where Telegram services were suspended due to attempts at state interference. Reinforcing, then, that is willing to abandon certain marketsif these conflict with the main slogans of the application. “We are guided by intention to defend the basic rights of peopleespecially in places where they are violated,” Durov stresses.
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However, Pavel Durov ends his statement by saying that the Telegram “is not perfect”which still has room for growth, especially in communication with the authorities, but which is by no means a “anarchic paradise”.
Despite the exponential growth of the platform, which, according to its creator, has more than 950 million users, Durov says that He began working internally to resolve the problem. associated with the ease of carrying out criminal acts such as those indicated by the French authorities.
Source: Observadora
