Durov | Crypto

The comments followed recent reports that law enforcement officials retrieved deleted Signal messages through device push notification logs. Pavel Durov, the co-founder of the Telegram messaging application, said that push notifications create a persistent, critical vulnerability to user privacy, allowing data retrieval even after messages and messaging applications that allow push notification data storage have been deleted from a device. Durov cited a recent report, originally published by 404 Media, that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was able to retrieve deleted messages from a Signal user by accessing device notification logs on an Apple iPhone. Durov said on Friday: Cointelegraph reached out to Signal about the FBI’s data retrieval but did not receive a response by the time of publication.  The recent reports highlight how investigators and those with sufficient technical skills can circumvent end-to-end encryption and breach user privacy by accessing metadata and other informat...

The proposed laws are meant to create a mass-surveillance state and are not about protecting children, Pavel Durov warned on Wednesday. Pavel Durov, the co-founder of the Telegram messaging platform, sounded the alarm about the Spanish government’s plan to usher in online age verification and restrict social media platforms for individuals under the age of 16. The proposed law will lead to increased government-led censorship of online content, breaches of privacy through de-anonymizing users and mass-surveillance, Durov said on Wednesday. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Tuesday that the country will enact online age verification policies seen in other parts of Europe, including the United Kingdom. Read more

Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov said that French intelligence pressured Telegram into censoring political content, which he refused to do. Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov claimed that French intelligence services asked him to censor content related to the election in Moldova in 2024 in exchange for saying “good things” to the judge overseeing his trial, which he declined to do. Durov said the messaging platform initially took down some posts that “clearly” violated Telegram’s terms of service, but declined to remove any additional content for political reasons. Durov wrote in a Sunday Telegram post: Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments. We refused to act on this request,” he continued. Read more

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested one year ago and has since then been required to stay in France while under investigation. One year has passed since the arrest of Telegram CEO and co-founder Pavel Durov, sparking outrage from free speech activists and concern over the future of platform moderation. On Aug. 24, 2024, Durov was arrested at the Paris-Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France as part of an investigation by the French National Judicial Police. The 12 charges later filed against him claim that he is complicit in serious crimes committed by users on his platform. Durov has expressed confusion and frustration about the case in recent interviews. Free speech advocates harshly criticized the arrest, stating it has serious implications for free speech and platform development.  Read more

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Pavel Durov’s first since being indicted on six charges in 2024, said his company did nothing wrong. Telegram founder Pavel Durov is still trying to figure out why he was detained in France last August, though the motives may have been political and tied to authorities’ efforts to crack down on alleged illicit activity on the messaging platform. That was one of the key takeaways from Durov’s interview with Tucker Carlson, which premiered Tuesday on YouTube.  In his first interview since his Aug. 24, 2024, arrest at Bourget Airport outside Paris, Durov said French authorities appeared primarily interested in how Telegram works — “as if it’s some kind of mystery,” he quipped. Read more

Pavel Durov is a keynote speaker at the Human Rights Foundation's Oslo Freedom Forum, a summit for universal human rights and autonomy. Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov will not be physically attending the Oslo Freedom Forum in Oslo, Norway, after French courts denied his request to travel to the Scandinavian country. According to an announcement from the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) — a non-profit organization that advocates for universal human rights and individual liberty, and the host of the Oslo Freedom Forum — Durov will still deliver his keynote address remotely over a livestream. “It is unfortunate that French courts would block Mr. Durov from participating in an event where his voice is so needed,” HRF founder and CEO Thor Halvorssen said. Read more