Telegram CEO Calls His Arrest in France 'Mistaken and Unjustified'

Pavel Durov, one of the founders and CEO of Telegram, stated that he considers his arrest in France, which occurred 12 days ago, as 'mistaken and unjustified' in his first response to the incident. In his first statement after being released on bail, he also described the accusation that Telegram is a 'paradise for anarchists' as 'completely incorrect.' On Thursday, September 15, he wrote on his Telegram channel that he is aware of the criticisms regarding the lack of oversight on the app and promised that changes are underway. The CEO of Telegram clarified that the app has already begun internal changes and will soon share 'more details' about the progress in this process. Pavel Durov was arrested on Saturday evening, September 5, shortly after landing at Le Bourget Airport in the outskirts of Paris on his private jet. Paris prosecutors announced last week that Durov's arrest was based on suspicion of complicity with a detained suspect, and investigations that the Paris cybercrime unit began last month. These investigations regarding Durov are linked to suspicions of involvement in various crimes, 'including the establishment of an online platform that facilitates illegal transactions, child pornography, drug trafficking, fraud, as well as failure to provide information to authorities, money laundering, and providing encryption services to criminals.' Founded in 2013, Telegram has generally reacted with reluctance to cooperate with governments. The app's terms of service emphasize that there is no way to report illegal activities in private chats. While child rights activists have accused Telegram of negligence in removing content related to child sexual abuse, the app claims that it removes public channels disseminating child sexual abuse daily using a combination of managers and artificial intelligence. Durov, in a post published on Thursday, acknowledged that the 'sudden increase' in the number of Telegram users has created difficult conditions and made it 'easier for criminals to exploit our app.' He further promised to work to 'significantly improve' the situation in this regard. Durov, 39, holds citizenship in Russia, France, and the United Arab Emirates, and Forbes estimates his total wealth at $15.5 billion. According to the French prosecution, among the conditions of Pavel Durov's conditional release, in addition to posting a €5 million bail, is his presence at the police station twice a week. Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, emphasized on Monday following Pavel Durov's arrest that his arrest is not related to political issues and that in cyberspace, just like in real life, 'freedoms are exercised within the framework of the law to protect citizens.'