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Telegram Defends CEO Pavel Durov Amid Arrest, Claims He Has ‘Nothing to Hide’

Telegram reacted to the arrest of its CEO, Pavel Durov, in France, by saying that nothing is wrong with Durov himself and that the platform at large. There have been reports which the company dismissed, saying Telegram or its owner is responsible for the misspent activities taking place on the platform.

After arriving by private jet, Durov was promptly arrested on Monday at the Le Bourget airport near Paris. The basic allegations behind this arrest are that he allowed his platform, Telegram, to be used for criminal activities. The statement says Telegram reiterates its firm intention to continue following applicable EU laws and the Digital Services Act.

“Pavel Durov has nothing to hide. He frequently travels across Europe and is prepared for an early settlement,” said Telegram. “With nearly a billion users around the world, Telegram is a major means of communication and a repository of information.

We are committed to the implementation of EU legislation and duty-bound to continue the development of our end-to-end and back-end moderations towards best practices industry-wide.”

Remarkably, the platform has over 900 million active users worldwide and has become a core tool for circulating information on the current war between Ukraine and Russia. In a rare interview with US political commentator Tucker Carlson in April, Durov made a great deal of an effort to emphasize the point about Telegram’s commitment to zero bias, shunning calls from governments to police content.

If convicted, Durov could serve a prison sentence of 20 years. The billionaire lives in Dubai and possesses double citizenship: France and the United Arab Emirates. He has been particularly critical of government pressure.

In 2014 he left Russia, having disagreed with the authorities there, who had demanded that he close down the groups of the opposition on the already-existing social network VKontakte.

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While this has put Russia’s embassy in France into specific extraneous overdrive, working hard to try to do something about the situation, Telegram offers end-to-end encrypted messaging and allows users to create channels that let them push their messages quickly.