Source: DuRove's Channel

Twelve days after Telegram founder DuRove was arrested in Paris, France, DuRove spoke out for the first time on September 6, 2024.

DuRove posted in his channel with more than 12 million subscribers that as a social media, it is not easy to balance privacy and security. Telegram has been committed to communicating with regulators to find the right balance. But Telegram sticks to its principles: its mission to protect users under authoritarian regimes. When it is impossible to reach an agreement with a country's regulators on the balance between privacy and security, Telegram is ready to leave that country. Because Telegram is not created to make money. Telegram is driven by bringing goodwill and defending people's fundamental rights, especially where these rights are violated.

DuRove also admitted that Telegram is not perfect and refuted the claim that Telegram is a paradise for anarchists. DuRove said that the sudden increase in the number of Telegram users to 950 million has brought growing pains and made it easier for criminals to abuse Telegram. Telegram deletes millions of harmful posts and channels every day.

Finally, DuRove pledged to make it his personal goal to ensure that Telegram’s abuse problem is significantly improved, a process that Telegram has already started internally.

Read DuRove's full article below:

When I first arrived in Paris last month, I was questioned by the police for four days. They told me that I might be responsible for the illegal use of Telegram by others because the French authorities had not received any responses from Telegram.

This is surprising for several reasons:

1. Telegram has an official representative in the EU who accepts and responds to EU requests, and its email address is publicly available online.

2. The French authorities have multiple ways to contact me for help. As a French citizen, I am a frequent visitor to the French Consulate in Dubai. I have also helped them set up a hotline with Telegram to deal with terrorist threats in France.

3. If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the usual approach is to bring legal action against the service itself. It is misleading to use laws from before the smartphone era to hold platform CEOs responsible for the actions of third parties.

Balancing privacy and security is not easy. You have to find a balance between privacy laws and law enforcement requirements, between local and EU laws, and consider technical limitations. As a platform, you want consistent processes around the world, while ensuring that they are not abused in countries where the rule of law is weak. We are always committed to engaging with regulators to find the right balance. Yes, we stick to our principles: our experience stems from our mission to protect users in repressive regimes. But we are always open to dialogue.

Sometimes we can’t agree with a country’s regulators on the balance of privacy and security. In such cases, we are ready to leave that country. We have done this many times. When Russia asked us to hand over “encryption keys” for surveillance, we refused — Telegram was banned for that. When Iran asked us to block the channels of peaceful protesters, we refused — Telegram was banned in Iran for that. We are ready to leave markets that are incompatible with our principles, because we are not in Telegram to make money. We are driven by bringing goodwill and defending people’s fundamental rights, especially where these rights are violated.

This doesn't mean Telegram is perfect. Even the fact that it's unclear where to send requests is a sign that we need to improve. But some of the claims in the media that Telegram is an anarchist haven are absolutely untrue. We remove millions of harmful posts and channels every day. We publish daily transparency reports and have a direct hotline with NGOs to process urgent moderation requests faster.

However, some say this is not enough. Telegram's sudden increase in user numbers to 950 million has caused growing pains and made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform. That’s why I’ve made it my personal goal to ensure significant improvements in this area. We have started this process internally and I will share more progress with you soon.

I hope that the events of August will make Telegram and the entire social network industry safer and stronger. Thank you again for your support and kindness.