Telegram founder Pavel Durov breaks his silence: NPR

Eight days after being indicted by French authorities, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov broke his silence.

On his personal Telegram channel, amid words of thanks, hearts and thumbs-up emojis, Durov defiantly rejected claims that his messaging platform was “an anarchic paradise” and criticized the French accusations as “misguided.”

“When a country is unhappy with an internet service, it is common practice to take legal action against the service itself. Using pre-smartphone laws to prosecute a CEO for crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach.”

While the Russian-born tech billionaire acknowledged that Telegram was “not perfect,” he stressed that the company had deleted “millions of posts and channels every day” and was currently working to improve protocols to make the platform “more secure and stable.”

Telegram has experienced tremendous growth since its founding in 2013. It now has 950 million users worldwide. Durov blamed this on “teething difficulties that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”

The 39-year-old French and UAE citizen was indicted in Paris on August 28. He was charged with, among other things, aiding and abetting the distribution of child abuse images, drug trafficking and violating the law. He was ordered to post bail of approximately $5.5 million and placed under judicial supervision. He is also not allowed to leave the country.

In his first public message since his detention, Durov said he was “surprised” and added details of what happened in the days following his arrest in Paris in late August.

“Last month, I was interrogated by police for four days after arriving in Paris. I was told that I might be personally responsible for others' illegal use of Telegram because the French authorities had not received any responses from Telegram.”

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement last week outlining the wide-ranging allegations that Telegram had “almost completely failed to respond to judicial requests.”

Durov says he finds this “surprising” in his post:

“Telegram has an official representative in the EU who receives and responds to EU requests” and “The French authorities have had numerous opportunities to reach me and ask for assistance.”