Telegram's Durov detained in France, vows to pull out over privacy issues

- The accusations against me are astonishing - said Pavel Durov, the creator of Telegram messenger, who was detained in France. He assured Telegram that he would be ready to withdraw from countries where confidentiality and security requirements could not be reconciled.

Durov published his first comment on Thursday evening after being detained in France at the end of August on charges related to organized crime.

As he informed me, he was told that he faces personal responsibility for users of the messenger using it unlawfully because the French authorities did not receive the required responses from Telegram. Durov assessed this as a "mistaken approach," and the accusations are astonishing.

He assessed that it is a "mistaken approach" to "use pre-smartphone era regulations" to accuse him, as the head of the company managing the service, of user crimes.

Durov argued that "finding the right balance between confidentiality and security is not an easy task." He assured that Telegram "tries to cooperate with regulators to find a balance" and is "open to dialogue".

- Sometimes, we cannot agree with regulators on the right balance between confidentiality and security. In such cases, we are ready to withdraw from the given country, added Durov.

He referred to the decision to withdraw the messenger from Russia and Iran when the authorities of those countries demanded the encryption keys - as was the case in Russia - or wanted to block certain channels, as Iran demanded. Telegram then refused and was blocked in Iran.

Durov, who is a Russian citizen and also holds a French passport, has been charged in France with 12 counts related to organized crime. As he mentioned in his comment, he was interrogated for four days after arriving in Paris.

After being detained, Durov was released after posting bail of 6 million USD. He must also report to the police station twice a week and cannot leave French territory.