AFP learned from a source with knowledge of the case on Saturday that Telegram leader Pavel Durov informed the investigating magistrates in France that he “realized the sincerity of all the allegations.” Durov was charged with infractions linked to facilitating organised crime.
According to excerpts from his questioning in December, the source claimed that the communications support Durov and his brother founded in 2013 “was never intended to be a platform for criminals.”
” Its growing reputation, the general increase in the number of our people, meant that the number using Telegram for legal reasons even increased”, added the 40-year-old, who possesses many documents including French.
” Every day we’ve been informed of unlawful usage, we’ve tried to remove the people who have broken the law or the system’s laws”, Durov said, numbering deleted records at between 15 and 20 million per month.
Durov claimed that he was “disgusted in a specific power” during the ten hours of questioning by the magistrates in connection with a specimen of 15 legal supposedly facilitated by Telegram’s “ease of use.”
He continued, adding that his business was” committing to improving our moderation processes,” keeping his previous pledge to work with authorities more closely in public.
