Pavel Durov Denounces Outmoded Regulations Following Arrest Due to Criminal Activities on Telegram
Pavel Durov, the Chief Executive Officer of Telegram, has criticized the accusations against him as he finally speaks out nearly a fortnight subsequent to his detention in France, stating they are unfounded.
In a lengthy statement comprising 600 words shared on his Telegram profile, Durov expressed, “If a nation is dissatisfied with an online service, the standard procedure is to initiate legal action against the service itself.”
“Employing laws dating back to the era prior to smartphones to incriminate a CEO for offenses committed by third parties on the platform he administers is an inaccurate strategy,” he articulated.
Durov faced allegations toward the end of the prior month for enabling a variety of illicit activities on Telegram, such as drug trafficking and illicit money transactions, following an investigation into an unidentified individual’s sharing of child sexual exploitation content.
He also stressed the challenges in harmonizing both confidentiality and safety, emphasizing that Telegram is prepared to withdraw from markets that do not align with its mandate to “defend our users in dictatorial environments.”
Durov further attributed the situation to “growing difficulties that have made it simpler for lawbreakers to exploit our platform.” The widely-used messaging application recently surpassed 950 million monthly active users.
“Consequently, it has become my personal objective to guarantee we make substantial improvements in this area,” he stated. “We have already commenced this process internally, and I will provide you with further updates on our advancement very shortly.”
The enterprise has subsequently modified its FAQ page to enable users to flag illicit content in private and group conversations for evaluation utilizing a designated “Report” option, a substantial policy shift and a capability that was previously restricted.
However, Durov’s declaration does not address the absence of default end-to-end encryption (E2EE) safeguards, which users must consciously activate in one-on-one discussions.
“It also serves as a ‘cloud messaging service,’ meaning all messages are stored on Telegram’s servers rather than the user’s device,” Moxie Marlinspike, the developer of the E2EE messaging application Signal, highlighted.
“With a single search, the Russian Telegram unit can access all messages ever sent or received by the French president to his contacts, and similarly for messages exchanged by the contacts and their associates, and so forth,” Marlinspike added.
Matthew Green, a security expert and an assistant professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University, further criticized the platform for transforming the activation process into a tedious task that necessitates at least four clicks on Telegram’s iOS application.
“By and large, the feature is explicitly deactivated for the vast majority of conversations, available only for one-on-one chats, and never for group conversations involving more than two individuals,” Green stated.
“Interestingly, turning on end-to-end encryption in Telegram is somewhat perplexing for non-experts. Secret Chats only function if your conversation partner happens to be online when you initiate it,” he remarked.
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