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Telegram CEO Blasts French Authorities Over ‘Misguided’ Arrest

“to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,” Pavel Durov said.

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov blasted “misguided” French authorities Friday, speaking out for the first time since his arrest in Paris nearly two weeks ago over allegations of insufficient moderation on the messaging app. Durov, a 39-year-old Russian-French-Emirati national who lives in Dubai, was charged with being complicit in illicit activity including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse material. Durov said (in a Telegram post, of course) he was surprised by the French arrest because authorities could have phoned the company's European Union representative if they had concerns about content on the platform. He also said he had previously worked with the French government to set up a Telegram hotline to deal with terrorism and was a frequent guest of the French consulate in Dubai. “Establishing the right balance between privacy and security is not easy,” Durov wrote. “As a platform, you want your processes to be consistent globally, while also ensuring they are not abused in countries with weak rule of law. We’ve been committed to engaging with regulators to find the right balance.” Durov suggested France could have more reasonably taken legal action against his company if the government had concerns about the platform, and said, “to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach.”