Telegram CEO says French authorities demanded a backdoor to access users' messages

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov revealed that French authorities have demanded a backdoor to access users' private messages and information. Since Durov's arrest in August last year, Telegram has come under scrutiny by regulators around the world.

According to Durov’s latest post on his personal channel, the controversy comes on the heels of a legislation by the France Senate that required messaging apps to implement a backdoor for police to access private messages. While the National Assembly later rejected the bill, Durov says Paris Police Prefect is now advocating for it again.

The law passed by the French Senate was allegedly aimed at tackling drug trafficking. Still, Pavel Durov says it could not help in battling crimes as criminals could use smaller messaging apps to communicate and VPNs to hide their true identities.

Telegram CEO says implementing a backdoor for police is hazardous as it can be exploited by hackers and bad actors, asserting that it is “technically impossible to guarantee that only the police can access a backdoor.”

“This is why, as I’ve said before, Telegram would rather exit a market than undermine encryption with backdoors and violate basic human rights. Unlike some of our competitors, we don’t trade privacy for market share.”

As Durov says, Telegram can only disclose criminal suspects' IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities with a valid court order. The tech executive added that Telegram has “never disclosed a single byte of private messages” in its 12-year history.

Prosecutors in France charged Pavel Durov for allegedly allowing criminal activities on his platform, including calls for violence, child sexual abuse, drug trafficking, and online hate crimes. Since then, Telegram pledged to change its moderation policies to address concerns.

Meanwhile, the Telegram battle in Europe is not yet over. Pavel Durov says the European Commission has recently proposed a similar bill that requires messaging apps to implement a backdoor for authorities.

Source

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