TechFlow news, April 21 — Telegram founder Pavel Durov posted on his channel: "Last month, France nearly banned encrypted communications. A bill requiring instant messaging apps to implement backdoors for police access to private information was passed by the Senate. Fortunately, the bill was later rejected by the National Assembly. Yet just three days ago, the Paris police chief publicly endorsed this proposal again.
Members of the National Assembly wisely rejected a bill that could have made France the first country in the world to strip its citizens of privacy rights. Even countries many Europeans consider lacking in freedom have never banned encryption. Why is that?
Because technically, it's impossible to guarantee that only law enforcement can access such backdoors. Once a backdoor exists, it can be exploited by others—from foreign agents to hackers. The result would be that private information of all law-abiding citizens could be exposed.
This bill, aimed at preventing drug trafficking, would in fact do little to combat crime. Even if mainstream encrypted apps were weakened by backdoors, criminals could still securely communicate via numerous smaller apps—and due to their use of VPNs, they would become even harder to track.
This is why, as I've said before, Telegram would rather exit a market than compromise encryption with backdoors and violate fundamental human rights. Unlike some competitors, we will not trade privacy for market share.
In Telegram’s 12-year history, we have never disclosed any private information. Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, Telegram will only disclose a suspect’s IP address and phone number upon receipt of a valid court order—not the content of messages.
Last month, freedom prevailed over threats. But this serves as a reminder: we must continue explaining to lawmakers that encryption does not exist to protect criminals—but to protect the privacy and security of ordinary people. Losing this protection would be tragic.
The fight is far from over. This month, the European Commission has proposed a similar initiative requiring backdoors in instant messaging apps. No country is immune to the gradual erosion of freedom. Every day, these freedoms come under attack—and every day, we must defend them."
