France should have complained to Telegram, Durov says

The founder of the messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, who is under investigation in France, said late Thursday that French authorities should have taken their complaints to his company instead of arresting him.

In a post on Telegram, his first comment since his arrest, Durov said it was "surprising" that he was being held responsible for other people's content.

"Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach," he said.

He also said the investigation into the app was surprising as the French authorities could have contacted Telegram's EU representative at any time.

Durov claims Telegram is not anarchic paradise

Durov, who was born in Russia but also holds French citizenship, was arrested in France late last month as part of an investigation into crimes related to child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions linked to use of the app.

According to Durov, Telegram is not perfect, but he denied that the app actively enabled crime.

"But the claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue," he wrote. "We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day."

CEO vows to make Telegram safer

Durov said Telegram's soaring user numbers, which he now puts at 950 million worldwide, "caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform."

The CEO said he has made it his personal goal "to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard," adding that this is being worked out "internally" and more details would be shared in the future.

Durov expressed hope that the events of August would result in his company and the social networking industry as a whole becoming "safer and stronger."

He added that if Telegram could not agree on the "right balance between privacy and security" with local regulators, the company would be "ready to leave this country."

Arrest at Le Bourget airport

Durov was arrested on August 24 at Le Bourget airport outside Paris upon arrival aboard a private jet and questioned by investigators over the next several days.

He was charged after four days of detention in France on multiple counts of failure to curb extremist and illegal content on Telegram.

The Telegram CEO was conditionally released on bail of €5 million ($5.5 million). He must report to a police station twice a week and remain in France.

dh/sms (AFP, Reuters)