The founding father of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, beneath investigation in France, has mentioned that French authorities ought to have approached his firm with their complaints fairly than detaining him, calling the arrest ‘“misguided”.
Durov, writing on his Telegram channel early on Friday in his first public feedback since his detention final month, denied any suggestion the app was an “anarchic paradise”.
The Russian-born multi-billionaire mentioned the investigation into the app was shocking in that French authorities had entry to a “sizzling line” he had helped arrange they usually may have contacted Telegram’s EU consultant at any time.
“If a rustic is sad with an web service, the established follow is to start out a authorized motion towards the service itself,” he wrote.
“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 strategy.”
Telegram, he mentioned, was not good, however he denied any abuse related to the app.
“However the claims in some media that Telegram is a few form of anarchic paradise are completely unfaithful,” he wrote. “We take down tens of millions of dangerous posts and channels day-after-day.”
Durov, now a French nationwide, was detained late final month in France amid an investigation into crimes associated to baby sexual abuse photographs, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions related to the app.
He has been charged by the French judiciary for allegedly permitting felony exercise on the messaging app however averted being detained in jail earlier than the case is heard with a €5m bail. He was granted launch given that he report back to a police station twice every week and stay in France.
The fees towards Durov embrace complicity within the unfold of sexual photographs of youngsters and a litany of different alleged violations on the messaging app.
His shock arrest has put a highlight on the felony legal responsibility of Telegram, the favored app with about 1 billion customers, and has sparked debate over free speech and authorities censorship.
Reuters contributed to this report
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