Telegram under scrutiny: Durov responds to allegations by French authorities
Pavel Durov has made his first comments since being detained in France in late August on charges related to organised crime. He said he was told that he could face personal liability for the messenger’s users using it illegally, as the French authorities had not received the required answers from Telegram.
Durov said this was a “wrong approach.” “If a country is dissatisfied with an Internet service, the practice is to initiate legal proceedings against that service,” he noted.
As he assessed, it is a “wrong approach” “using recipes from the pre-smartphone era” in order to accuse him – as the head of the company managing the website – of crimes committed by users.
Durov argued that “finding the right balance between confidentiality and security is not an easy task.” He assured that Telegram “tries to work with regulators to find a balance” and is “open to dialogue.”
“Sometimes we cannot agree with regulators on the right balance between confidentiality and security. In such cases, we are ready to withdraw from a given country,” Durov added. He cited the decision to withdraw the messenger from Russia and Iran when the authorities of those countries demanded the transfer of encryption keys – as was the case in Russia – or to block certain channels, as Iran demanded. Telegram then refused and was blocked in Iran.
What do the French authorities accuse Durov of?
Durov, who is a Russian citizen and also holds a French passport, has been charged in France with 12 charges related to organised crime. As he said in his commentary, he was interrogated within four days of arriving in Paris.
After being detained, Durov was released after paying bail of 5 million euros.He is also required to report to the police station twice a week and cannot leave French territory.
Telegram’s financial situation
Telegram’s financial reports for 2023, seen by the Financial Times and previously unreleased, show that the company generated $342 million in revenue last year with an operating loss of $108 million. Total losses were approximately $173 million after tax.
Telegram is wholly owned by Durov, who has a multi-billion dollar fortune, but the company raised about $2.4 billion by selling bonds that mature in 2026.Since Durov’s arrest at an airport near Paris, Telegram’s bond price has fallen almost 10 percent.
