Founders

❤️ Thank you all for your support!

Last month, I was questioned by the police in Paris for four days, accused of being responsible for illegal activities on Telegram due to French authorities not receiving responses from the platform. This was surprising because:

1. Telegram has an EU representative handling law enforcement requests, and their contact details are public.

2. French authorities had many ways to reach me — I’ve frequently been in touch with the French consulate and even helped set up a hotline for combating terrorism.

3. Holding a CEO liable for third-party misuse of a platform is misguided. Innovation can't thrive if founders are held responsible for potential abuses.

Balancing privacy and security is hard, but we engage with regulators and prioritize principles over profit. We’ve left countries like Russia and Iran when demands compromised our values. We're committed to improving and will share more updates soon. Thanks for your continued support and memes! 🙏