Telegram Forced to Surrender
Citizen Watch Report
September 9, 2024

[snip]

French authorities arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov last month for permitting encrypted messaging on his app that could not be accessed by governments. France claimed that Durov was permitting illegal activities to occur on Telegram. Public safety is always the ruse they employ to remove our freedoms.

Telegram has been forced to surrender and permit the European Union and other governments to access private chats.

Telegram has removed language from its FAQ page that once stated “we do not process any requests” related to accessing private messages. The security and encryption is one of the primary reasons that people sought out Telegram. Are we to believe all 950 million users were criminals? No. People have been prohibited from speaking out against government everywhere and this was one of the final frontiers that permitted free speech.

https://x.com/durov/status/1831984752359813503

❤️ Thanks everyone for your support and love!

Last month I got interviewed by police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.…

— Pavel Durov (@durov) September 6, 2024