PARIS: telegram founder Pablo Durov has declared to investigating judges in France, where he was accused of infractions related to the facilitation of organized crime, that “he is aware of the seriousness of all the accusations”, he learned on Saturday to AFP thanks to a source familiar with the case. .
He courier service Durov, founded with his brother in 2013, “was not created to be a platform for criminals,” he told investigators through an interpreter, according to excerpts of his December interrogation provided by the source.
“Its growing popularity, the general increase in the number of our users, meant that the number of users Telegram for criminal purposes has also increased,” adds this 40-year-old man, who holds several passports, including the French one.
“Every time we were informed about illicit use, we tried to remove users who violated the law or the platform rules,” Durov said, putting the deleted accounts at between 15 and 20 million per month.
During 10 hours of questioning by magistrates dealing with a sample of 15 criminal activities allegedly facilitated by Telegram’s “ease of use,” Durov said he was “privately disgusted.”
He added that his company was “committing to improving our moderation processes,” echoing a promise he made publicly in September to work more closely with authorities.
