DuRove speaks out for the first time after being arrested: Telegram is not perfect but sticks to its principles

Source: DuRove's Chnnel

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: the mission of protecting 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 made for 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 an anarchist paradise. 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 promised to make it his personal goal to ensure significant improvements in Telegram's abuse issues, and Teleelgram has already started this process internally.

Below is DuRove's full text:

As soon as I arrived in Paris last month, I was questioned by the police for four days. They told me that I might be responsible for other people's illegal use of Telegram because the French authorities had not received a response 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 whose email address is publicly available online.

2. 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 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 initiate legal action against the service itself. It is misleading to use pre-smartphone laws to hold platform CEOs responsible for the actions of third parties.

Balancing privacy and security is not easy. You have to find a compromise between privacy laws and law enforcement requirements, between local laws 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 with weak rule of law. We are always committed to communicating 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 our “encryption keys” for surveillance purposes, we refused – and Telegram was banned. When Iran asked us to block channels of peaceful protesters, we refused – and Telegram was banned in Iran. 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 that Telegram is perfect. Even the fact that it’s not clear to the authorities 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 paradise are absolutely untrue. We remove millions of harmful posts and channels every day. We publish transparency reports every day and have a direct hotline with NGOs to process urgent moderation requests faster.

However, some say that this is not enough. Telegram's sudden rise to 950 million users brings with it growing pains and makes it easier for criminals to abuse our platform. That's why I've made it a personal goal to ensure significant improvements in this area. We've already started this process internally, and I'll share more progress with you soon.

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