Telegram CEO says he’ll average higher after getting arrested in France

 ❤️ Thanks everybody to your help and love!

Final month I bought interviewed by police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. I used to be advised I could also be personally accountable for different folks’s unlawful use of Telegram, as a result of the French authorities didn’t obtain responses from Telegram.

This was stunning for a number of causes: 

1. Telegram has an official consultant within the EU that accepts and replies to EU requests. Its electronic mail handle has been publicly out there for anybody within the EU who googles “Telegram EU handle for regulation enforcement”. 

2. The French authorities had quite a few methods to succeed in me to request help. As a French citizen, I used to be a frequent visitor on the French consulate in Dubai. Some time in the past, when requested, I personally helped them set up a hotline with Telegram to take care of the specter of terrorism in France.

3. If a rustic is sad with an web service, the established observe is to begin a authorized motion towards the service itself. Utilizing legal guidelines from the pre-smartphone period to cost a CEO with crimes dedicated by third events on the platform he manages is a misguided method. Constructing expertise is difficult sufficient as it’s. No innovator will ever construct new instruments in the event that they know they are often personally held accountable for potential abuse of these instruments. 

Establishing the best stability between privateness and safety isn’t straightforward. It’s important to reconcile privateness legal guidelines with regulation enforcement necessities, and native legal guidelines with EU legal guidelines. It’s important to consider technological limitations. As a platform, you need your processes to be constant globally, whereas additionally guaranteeing they aren’t abused in nations with weak rule of regulation. We’ve been dedicated to partaking with regulators to seek out the best stability. Sure, we stand by our ideas: our expertise is formed by our mission to guard our customers in authoritarian regimes. However we’ve all the time been open to dialogue.

Typically we will’t agree with a rustic’s regulator on the best stability between privateness and safety. In these circumstances, we’re prepared to go away that nation. We’ve executed it many occasions. When Russia demanded we hand over “encryption keys” to allow surveillance, we refused — and Telegram bought banned in Russia. When Iran demanded we block channels of peaceable protesters, we refused — and Telegram bought banned in Iran. We’re ready to go away markets that aren’t suitable with our ideas, as a result of we’re not doing this for cash. We’re pushed by the intention to carry good and defend the fundamental rights of individuals, notably in locations the place these rights are violated.

All of that doesn’t imply Telegram is ideal. Even the truth that authorities could possibly be confused by the place to ship requests is one thing that we should always enhance. However the claims in some media that Telegram is a few kind of anarchic paradise are completely unfaithful. We take down thousands and thousands of dangerous posts and channels day-after-day. We publish every day transparency reviews (like this or this ). We’ve direct hotlines with NGOs to course of pressing moderation requests quicker.

Nevertheless, we hear voices saying that it’s not sufficient. Telegram’s abrupt improve in consumer rely to 950M precipitated rising pains that made it simpler for criminals to abuse our platform. That’s why I made it my private purpose to make sure we considerably enhance issues on this regard. We’ve already began that course of internally, and I’ll share extra particulars on our progress with you very quickly. 

I hope that the occasions of August will end in making Telegram — and the social networking business as a complete — safer and stronger. Thanks once more to your love and memes 🙏