Hey everyone! First off, THANK YOU for the incredible support and love you’ve shown me 🙌. Your energy keeps me going, and I couldn’t do this without you. Now, let's get real for a moment. Last month, something unexpected happened that I need to share.

After arriving in Paris, I was interviewed by the police for FOUR days. Why? They claimed I could be personally responsible for illegal activity on Telegram, simply because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram. Yes, you read that right. It was shocking for many reasons, but let’s break it down:

What Went Down – And Why It’s Absurd 🤯

1. Telegram has an official EU representative that handles law enforcement requests. The email address is literally available to anyone who Googles “Telegram EU address for law enforcement.”

2. French authorities had countless ways to reach me. I’m a French citizen and a regular at the French consulate in Dubai. I even helped set up a hotline with Telegram to assist in fighting terrorism in France.

3. Holding a CEO personally accountable for third-party misuse of a platform? Come on. That’s like blaming the inventor of the phone for illegal phone calls. Using outdated laws from the pre-smartphone era to go after the CEO is not only misguided—it’s a dangerous precedent. If this becomes the norm, no innovator will want to build anything new.

Balancing Privacy and Security: A Complex Game ⚖️

Striking the right balance between privacy and security is no easy task. You’ve got privacy laws, law enforcement demands, local vs. EU regulations—and then there’s the tech side of it all. Our goal is to ensure consistency across the globe while protecting users, especially in countries with weaker legal systems. We stand firm on our values: privacy and freedom, even when it’s hard.

When a country’s demands clash with our principles, we’re not afraid to leave. Look at Russia—they demanded access to encryption keys, we refused, and got banned. Same thing happened in Iran when they wanted us to block peaceful protesters. We’re not in this for profit; we’re driven by a mission to protect fundamental human rights.

Yes, We Can Do Better 👊

Now, let’s address something. Telegram isn’t perfect, and we’re the first to admit that. The fact that authorities got confused about how to contact us? That’s on us, and we’re already working on fixing it. But let's kill this narrative that Telegram is some “anarchic paradise.” Not true.

We remove millions of harmful posts and channels every day. We publish daily transparency reports, and we have direct hotlines with NGOs to speed up urgent moderation. But with our rapid growth to 950M users, yes, challenges arise, and some bad actors slip through. That’s why I’ve made it my personal mission to significantly improve moderation—and we’re already working on it.

The Future: Stronger Together 💪

I’m optimistic that the events of August will push us to become even better. Not just Telegram, but the entire social networking space needs to evolve to ensure safety without compromising freedom. And we’ll lead that change.

So, thanks again for your unwavering love and support. Let’s keep moving forward, building a stronger, safer Telegram—together. ❤️

Stay tuned for updates.

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