Telegram to Exit Markets Demanding Encryption Backdoors

The founder of Telegram emphasises the value of encryption as a basic right over possible market access. If authorities continue to seek a permit to access communications, the CEO of Telegram promised that the service will depart France.

The French government’s attempt to outlaw encryption has drawn criticism from Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who described it as a major threat to online privacy.

In an April 21 post on X, Durov says “Telegram would rather leave a market than compromise encryption with backdoors and violate fundamental human rights.” Durov also claimed that French legislators nearly enacted a measure last month that would have mandated messaging companies to install backdoors that would enable law enforcement authorities access to private chats.

The Telegram creator congratulated the National Assembly for defeating the measure, stating that it would have made France the first country to destroy its citizens’ right to digital privacy. Governments with a bad civil rights record, he noted, have never gone so far as to outlaw encryption.

However, the CEO of Telegram claims that the encryption debate was restarted after being supported by the Paris Police Prefect last Friday.

There are no Telegram backdoors as Durov claims that rather than improving security, backdoors make things worse. He maintained that if a backdoor is made, anyone might take advantage of it, including cybercriminals and foreign agencies.

He went on to say that law-abiding persons whose communications may be monitored or exposed would be the true victims of such backdoors.

Durov also disputed the idea that such laws would stop criminal activity. He emphasized that it would be even more difficult to track criminals if they simply switched to smaller, safer apps or used tools like Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

According to Durov, Telegram would prefer to leave any market than jeopardize its encryption measures or infringe upon basic human rights.

He said that even with the backdoor, criminals were still able to interact through smaller applications, therefore the law would not be effective in stopping drug trafficking.

He underlined that in its twelve years of existence, Telegram never exchanged private communications with any government. In accordance with the EU Digital Services Act, the site only offers a restricted amount of data, including IP addresses and contact information, and only in response to a legitimate court order.

Finally, Durov cautioned that policymakers should no longer view encryption as a criminal instrument. According to him, encryption protects the privacy of regular people and is a fundamental right.

“The battle is far from over,” Durov said. The European Commission put up a similar plan last month to introduce backdoors into messaging applications. No nation is exempt from the gradual deterioration of liberties. These liberties are attacked daily, and we have to protect them every day.

Noting that “no country is immune to the slow erosion of freedoms,” Durov pointed out that the European Commission has also put out a similar plan regarding messaging app backdoors.

Encryption is designed to defend the privacy and safety of regular people, not to shield criminals, and we must continue to emphasize this to policymakers. It would be sad to lose that protection,” Durov continued.

The encryption controversy is not just in France. Globally, governments are still struggling with the conflict between personal privacy and national security.

Durov also discussed the new ProtectEU initiative from the European Commission, which outlines a plan for allowing legal access to encrypted data by 2026.