French media outlet franceinfo has shared details of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's interrogation in France in early December.
The interrogation was first reported on December 6. At the time, French media reported that Pavel Durov was giving his first statement in Paris since his detention in August.
According to new information, during the interrogation, Pavel Durov said that Telegram deletes 15-20 million user accounts worldwide every month for violating the rules.
"Telegram was not created as a platform for criminals," he said. Durov added that the problem of people abusing messaging platforms and social networks to violate the rules and regulations is not unique to Telegram.
He stressed that Telegram is very serious about combating child pornography: "We delete it on the platform the day it is published."
Durov added that Telegram cooperates with several organizations fighting child abuse. But the judges noted that this initiative was only put forward after Durov’s detention:
“It was only when I was in police custody that I fully understood the seriousness of these facts,” Pavel Durov admitted.
Durov said that over the past six months, Telegram has provided 10,000 user data records to law enforcement, security and judicial authorities around the world. Between late August and late September, Telegram responded to all of the approximately 100 requests sent by the French Office for Minors (OFMIN).
However, this figure is significantly lower than the number of requests sent by French authorities each year, and Telegram has not responded to many of these requests so far.
At the same time, the court notes that the use of Telegram by criminals has increased further in recent months.
In the first five months of 2024 alone, 535 criminal cases were opened by the French gendarmerie. This compares with a total of 808 cases in 2023. From 2017 to 2024, 2,000 cases of crimes committed through Telegram were registered.
It should be noted that the Telegram boss was reported to have appeared in court with his lawyers David-Olivier Kaminski and Christophe Ingren. At that time, Durov announced that he had “trust in the French justice system.”
At the same time, David-Olivier Kaminski called the claim that his client had “connections” to crimes committed by Telegram users “absurd.”
