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Telegram CEO defends himself against French charges in first public comments

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Telegram CEO defends himself against French charges in first public comments
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Telegram CEO defends himself against French charges in first public comments

2024-09-06 17:14 Last Updated At:17:21

PARIS (AP) — Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov promised to step up efforts to fight criminality on the messaging app, his first public comments since French authorities handed him preliminary charges for allegedly allowing the platform's use for criminal activity.

In a Telegram post late Thursday, Durov defended himself against the French judicial investigation, suggesting that he shouldn't have been targeted personally.

“Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,” the post said. “Building technology is hard enough as it is. No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools.”

While insisting that Telegram is not “some sort of anarchic paradise,” Durov said surging numbers of Telegram users “caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”

“That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon," he said.

French investigators detained Durov at Le Bourget airport outside Paris in late August and questioned him for four days as part of a sweeping probe opened earlier this year. Released on 5 million euros bail, Durov has to report to a police station twice a week. Russia-born, he has amassed multiple citizenships, including French.

French allegations against Durov include that Telegram is used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that the platform refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law.

In his post, Durov said that while in police detention, "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.”

“This was surprising for several reasons,” he added.

He said Telegram has an official representative in the European Union who replies to EU requests, with a public email address.

Telegram's website informs users that they can contact the app through a bot and includes a link to report illegal content. It also includes an email address and phone number for “competent authorities of the EU and EU members” to use. “If you are not a competent EU or EU member authority, your request will not be processed,” it says.

In his post, Durov said “French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance." He said he also had previously worked with them to “establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France.”

“If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself,” he said.

FILE - Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov appears at an event on Aug. 1, 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)

FILE - Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov appears at an event on Aug. 1, 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)

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Japan's exports hit record high, but trade deficit continues

2025-01-23 13:16 Last Updated At:13:21

TOKYO (AP) — Japan saw record-high exports last year, as its annual trade deficit declined 44% from the previous year, the Finance Ministry reported Thursday.

The trade deficit, which measures the value of exports minus imports, totaled 5.3 trillion yen ($34 billion), according to government data, as imports ballooned on the back of rising energy costs and growing inflation around the world.

Exports from the world’s third-largest economy totaled 107.9 trillion yen ($691 billion), surpassing the 100 trillion yen mark for the second-straight year, and the biggest value on record for comparable data, which dates back to 1979, the ministry said.

Some companies may have sped up their exports in anticipation of potential tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has said he expects to put 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Feb. 1. During his campaign, he threatened to impose tariffs on imports from China, although details on that remain unclear.

For the month of December, exports gained a greater-than-expected 2.8% on-year, while imports rose 1.8%. Exports grew to Asian and European nations, while dipping slightly to the U.S.

Imports grew most from India, Hong Kong and Iran.

Demand was especially strong for Japan's vehicles, semiconductors and other machinery.

The weakening yen, another recent trend, has the effect of inflating the value of imports. The U.S. dollar has been hovering at 150-yen levels, sometimes surpassing 160 yen, over the past year, while a year ago it was often at 140-yen levels.

Japan has recorded a trade deficit for four straight years, but last year's deficit was considerably smaller than the 9.5 trillion yen deficit for 2023.

FILE - Cars for export are parked at a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

FILE - Cars for export are parked at a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

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