Pavel Durov says Telegram would exit markets before betraying users
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov expressed concerns over a growing threat to private messaging in France and other European Union countries, warning that Telegram would rather exit certain markets than implement encryption backdoors that undermine user privacy.
In an April 21 post to his “Du Rove’s channel” on Telegram, he posted a message about the EU’s increasing efforts to weaken messaging encryption by adding backdoors, a method that would allow authorities to bypass encryption and access private user data.
Durov cited initiatives from French and EU lawmakers to require messaging apps like Telegram to implement backdoors for police access and stressed Telegram’s commitment to digital privacy.
“Telegram would rather exit a market than undermine encryption with backdoors and violate basic human rights,” Durov stated, adding: “Unlike some of our competitors, we don’t trade privacy for market share.”
Backdoors can be exploited by criminals
In his message, Durov highlighted that the biggest problem behind encryption backdoors lies in their accessibility not only by authorities but also by hackers and foreign agents.
“It’s technically impossible to guarantee that only the police can access a backdoor,” Durov said, adding that backdoors would put users’ private messages at risk of being compromised.
He added that criminals would likely turn to lesser-known apps and use virtual private networks (VPNs) to avoid detection, rendering such regulations ineffective.
Telegram “never disclosed a single byte” of private messages
Durov said that while Telegram complies with valid court orders in some jurisdictions, such as disclosing IP addresses and phone numbers found to be involved in criminal activity, it has never exposed any private messages:
“In its 12-year history, Telegram has never disclosed a single byte of private messages. In accordance with the EU Digital Services Act, if provided with a valid court order, Telegram would only disclose the IP addresses and phone numbers of criminal suspects — not messages.”
He urged privacy advocates to keep communicating with lawmakers and promote encryption as a protection tool of privacy and safety for ordinary people, rather than see it as a criminal tool. “Losing that protection would be tragic,” Durov said.
“The battle is far from over”
Although the French National Assembly rejected a proposal to allow hidden access to private messages in March, Durov said the EU’s war on digital privacy is far from over.
Durov cited the European Commission’s “ProtectEU” proposal from early April. The proposal aims to find “technological solutions to enable lawful access to data by law enforcement authorities in 2026.”
The proposal has been heavily criticized by digital privacy advocates and some European lawmakers, with Finnish MEP Aura Salla suggesting that introducing encryption backdoors “fundamentally undermines the very cybersecurity principles ProtectEU aims to uphold.”
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“No country is immune to the slow erosion of freedoms. Every day, those freedoms come under attack — and every day, we must defend them,” Durov concluded.
Durov’s warning about threats to privacy and freedom in the EU comes amid an ongoing legal case in France against the Telegram CEO involving allegations of facilitating a platform that enables illicit transactions.
According to French prosecutors, Durov faces up to 10 years of prison time in addition to a $550,000 fine if convicted.
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Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.
MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.
Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.
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Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma
In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.
“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.
“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.
“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”
Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.
The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.
It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.
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Why was the chancellor crying at PMQs?
Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.
Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.
“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”
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Reeves is ‘totally’ up for the job
Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.
“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.
“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”
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