PARIS (AP) 鈥� Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov is promising stepped-up efforts to fight criminality on the messaging app, his first public comments since French authorities handed him preliminary charges for allegedly allowing the platform's use for criminal activity.
In a Telegram post, Durov defended himself against the French judicial investigation, suggesting that he personally shouldn't have been targeted.
鈥淯sing laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,鈥� the post said. 鈥淏uilding technology is hard enough as it is. No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools.鈥�
While insisting that Telegram is not 鈥渟ome sort of anarchic paradise,鈥� Durov said surging numbers of Telegram users 鈥渃aused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We鈥檝e already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon," he said.
The Associated Press
