Telegram CEO: My Arrest Over Crimes By Third Parties Is Misguided
Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, has described his recent arrest over alleged insufficient moderation of the messaging app as a “misguided” move by authorities. Durov was detained by French police at Le Bourget airport on August 25 on suspicion of complicity in illicit activities, including drug trafficking, fraud, and the distribution of child abuse images linked to Telegram.
Following four days of interrogation, Durov was released on August 28 and transferred to a Paris court for further questioning.
In a statement on Thursday, Durov criticized the decision to hold him accountable for the actions of third parties using the platform. He called the approach “surprising” and “misguided,” arguing that, “If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to initiate legal action against the service itself.”
He added that applying outdated laws to hold CEOs personally responsible for crimes committed by users of their platforms discourages innovation. “No innovator will build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for the potential abuse of those tools,” Durov said.
While acknowledging that Telegram isn’t perfect, Durov pointed out that French authorities have various ways to communicate with him and the company, which has an official representative in the European Union (EU).
Telegram, with nearly one billion users globally, has been criticized for enabling the spread of misinformation, disinformation, and extremist content. The app is especially popular in Russia, Ukraine, and former Soviet republics.
