Telegram CEO breaks silence after arrest
Pavel Durov. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Twelve days after he was arrested in France, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has broken his silence with a 600-word statement on his Telegram account that blames “growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”
French authorities had charged Durov with enabling various forms of criminal activity on Telegram, including an unnamed person’s distribution of child sexual abuse material on the platform. An unnamed statement from Telegram at the time of his arrest said Durov had “nothing to hide.”
While the vast majority of his statement today paints his arrest as surprising and unfair, he also admits that policing Telegram has become harder. Durov says it’s now his “personal goal” to “significantly improve things in this...