Did you know Telegram CEO Reveals French Authorities Demanded Backdoor Access to Users’ Private Information

 

The CEO of popular texting platform Telegram is not slowing down when it comes to revealing the truth about his captivity in the country. Pavel Durov accused the French authorities of making some unrealistic demands, such as backdoor access to users’ personal data. This includes their messages.

The news comes after he was arrested by French police last year in August, and since then, his app has been under the radar of global regulators.

Durov mentioned in his latest recent post published through the channel how he was shocked at the demands and claims being made. It comes at the perfect timing where the French Senate wants to pass a law that focuses on messaging platforms to have backdoors to sensitive data, which the police can access. This bill was rejected by the country’s National Assembly, but he says the French Police aren’t backing down.

 The law aimed to tackle the growing rise in drug trafficking incidents. Durov says it couldn’t assist in battling the issues of criminals that make use of small-scale texting platforms to communicate and also use VPNs to disguise their identities.

The CEO says such a law can be detrimental as it could be exploited by threat actors for the wrong reasons. He also shared how it was nearly impossible to ensure only the cops had access to the feature. As per Durov, it would be better for his app to exit such a market than abuse encryption using backdoor access that’s violating human rights. He even raised eyebrows by adding that some archrivals in the industry have resorted to these practices, but it wouldn’t fall into the trap.

For Telegram, user privacy was above everything else, including market share. Right now, the app can solely disclose the IP addresses of criminals and their phone numbers by using valid court orders. As per the tech head, the app never shared any kind of private data in its 12-year-long working relationship.

French prosecutors allegedly enabled criminal activities to arise through the app, such as violent calls, drug trafficking, child abuse, and hate. After that, Telegram vowed to adjust its moderation tools and policies to put away any risks or concerns.

However, the worries and woes of the app in the EU aren’t over just yet. The CEO claims the EC made proposals for something similar, which forces messaging platforms to have backdoor access to authorities.