In a bold assertion, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov insists his messaging platform’s privacy policies remain largely unchanged, despite his recent legal troubles in France.
Following his arrest at Le Bourget airport in late August, Durov took to his personal Telegram channel to clarify the app shared user data with authorities for years to combat criminal activity.
"Little has changed," he declared, addressing concerns over a perceived shift in Telegram’s terms of service, reported Cointelegraph.
Durov emphasized the company provided IP addresses and phone numbers of alleged criminals to governments since 2018, as long as the requests came through proper legal channels.
This year alone, Telegram complied with more than 200 legal requests from Brazilian authorities and nearly 7,000 from India.
Durov, facing accusations of facilitating child pornography and other offenses due to lax content moderation, defended his platform’s core principles.
"Telegram was built to protect activists and ordinary people from corrupt governments and corporations," he stated, asserting the platform does not allow criminals to exploit its services.
While navigating the storm of French allegations, Durov claimed he was the target of a misguided approach from the French government. He criticized the use of outdated laws to hold a CEO accountable for actions taken by third parties on a platform.
"Building technology is hard enough as it is," he lamented. "No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools."
The rapid rise in Telegram users, Durov admitted, led to "growing pains" that inadvertently allowed criminal elements to abuse the platform. He expressed commitment to improving content moderation, stating, "I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard."
As the digital landscape continues to evolve, Durov’s insistence on maintaining user privacy while complying with legal requests raises important questions about the balance between safety and freedom. With his legal battle far from over, the world watches closely how Durov navigates this tumultuous chapter for Telegram.
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Photo: Hubert Burda Media via Flickr Creative Commons
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