Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has mentioned that it’s fully incorrect to painting his encrypted messenger as a platform the place criminals act with impunity.
The Russian-French businessman defended Telegram after being charged by the French authorities with permitting the dissemination of unlawful content material.
Durov launched a prolonged assertion on his Telegram channel on Thursday, saying that he had cooperated with French regulation enforcement previously. “When requested, I personally helped them set up a hotline with Telegram to take care of the specter of terrorism in France,” he wrote.
Durov acknowledged that Telegram, which at present has greater than 950 million month-to-month lively customers, has been experiencing “rising pains” that made it simpler for criminals to abuse the platform. He promised to “considerably enhance” content material administration.
“Establishing the correct steadiness between privateness and safety isn’t straightforward. It’s a must to reconcile privateness legal guidelines with regulation enforcement necessities, and native legal guidelines with EU legal guidelines,” Durov continued, stressing that his firm has been open to dialogue and “dedicated to participating with regulators to seek out the correct steadiness.”
The tech billionaire added that Telegram was “ready to go away markets that aren’t appropriate with our rules,” citing disagreements he had with regulators in Russia and Iran. Telegram was banned in Russia from 2018 and 2020, and continues to be blocked in Iran.
“We’re pushed by the intention to deliver good and defend the fundamental rights of individuals, significantly in locations the place these rights are violated,” Durov wrote.
All of that doesn’t imply Telegram is ideal. Even the truth that authorities might be confused by the place to ship requests is one thing that we should always enhance. However the claims in some media that Telegram is a few kind of anarchic paradise are completely unfaithful.
Responding to the accusations of lax moderation practices, Durov mentioned that Telegram takes down “hundreds of thousands of dangerous posts and channels day by day,” and publishes “day by day transparency experiences” about actions taken towards the dissemination of unlawful content material, together with baby abuse and terrorism.
French police detained Durov two weeks in the past after his personal jet landed at Paris-Le Bourget Airport. He was charged with a dozen offenses in reference to the crimes being dedicated utilizing Telegram, and launched on bail a number of days later. The messenger’s alleged refusal to cooperate with the authorities finally led the investigators to Durov, the prosecutors mentioned in a press launch. The CEO, nevertheless, denied that Telegram had been ignoring requests from the authorities.
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