Telegram boss Pavel Durov has admitted his encrypted messaging app is not perfect but strongly denied it was an “anarchic paradise” as he broke his silence following his arrest in France.
Writing on the platform in his first public comments since his detention, the chief executive argued the approach taken by the French authorities was “misguided” and should have raised concerns with the company.
He pointed out they had access to a “hot line” he had helped set up and could have contacted Telegram’s EU
representative at any time.
The Russian-born 39-year-old, who became a French citizen in 2021, was held last month in connection with the use of the social media app for child sex abuse images, drug trafficking and fraud.
Read more: Who is Telegram founder Pavel Durov?
His arrest in France signalled a shift in how countries may deal with tech chiefs over illegal content on their platforms.
The billionaire entrepreneur wrote: “We are driven by the intention to bring good and defend the basic rights of people, particularly in places where these rights are violated.
“All of that does not mean Telegram is perfect.
“Even the fact that authorities could be confused by where to send requests is something that we should improve.
“But the claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue.
“We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day.”
He said: “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.
“Establishing the right balance between privacy and security is not easy.”
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Mr Durov added: “Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950 million caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.
“That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard.
“We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon.
“I hope that the events of August will result in making Telegram – and the social networking industry as a whole – safer and stronger.”
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Telegram offers end-to-end encryption – effectively protecting data from being intercepted – and has a strong focus on privacy.
But while it is a critical source of information on Russia’s war in Ukraine, it has also been used for criminal activity and recently by far-right activists who sparked riots in the UK over the Southport stabbings.
Western governments have often criticised Telegram for a lack of content moderation, which experts say opens up the messaging app for potential exploitation by criminal and extremist gangs.
In 2022, Germany issued fines of €5.1m (£3.7m) against Telegram for breaching laws which regulate large online platforms, including failing to establish a way of reporting illegal content.