Telegram founder Pavel Durov stops in need of promising person information is secure

On the matter of person privateness, Telegram’s founder has spoken. And we’re extra confused than ever.

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov posted an account in his public Telegram channel Monday about his historical past of defending person information from the Russian authorities. He ends the put up saying, “I stand for our customers it doesn’t matter what. Their proper to privateness is sacred. Now — greater than ever.”

He additionally tweeted a hyperlink to the put up that mentioned he had no regrets about his previous actions standing as much as the federal government and that he would “do it once more with out hesitation.”

Tweet might have been deleted

However what Durov would not give on both Telegram or Twitter is an assurance that Telegram’s person information is secure. It is doable that there’s a translation subject at play: Durov speaks each Russian and English, so maybe he used a Google translate-like software to assist compose the put up. However taking his posts at face worth, the statements “I stand for our customers” and “their proper to privateness is sacred” should not the identical factor as an unequivocal promise to not hand over information to the Russian authorities, nor are they an assurance that person information is secure from hacking and leaks.

Durov is the founder of what’s nonetheless the dominant social community in Russia, VK. Durov writes in his put up that within the early 2010s, the Russian authorities pressured him handy over the info of Ukrainians opposing the Russia-friendly Ukrainian chief on the time. Durov refused, and ended up shedding management of VK and fleeing the nation (he is at the moment a French citizen). At present, VK is managed by the state. 

He later based Telegram, a platform that has each one-to-one and group messages, in addition to public “channels,” that are methods folks can broadcast views and information, and which may act like boards. In 2018, the Russian authorities moved to shut down Telegram, however ended up dropping the initiative in 2020. At present, it is Russia’s second largest messaging platform after WhatsApp, with 38 million month-to-month lively customers within the nation as of 2020.

So Durov does in truth have a historical past of defending person information, even at nice private danger. However specialists fear that the truth that Telegram shouldn’t be an end-to-end encrypted platform makes it susceptible. Customers should proceed to belief that Telegram will not give authorities regimes information. It is also doable that Telegram’s infrastructure may very well be hacked, or person information may very well be launched by somebody on the within.

Durov particularly calls out alleged issues by some that the very fact of him beforehand dwelling in Russia would possibly compromise Ukrainians’ safety. That’s presumably why he tells the story of the VK battle, and shares that he’s himself Ukrainian on his mom’s facet.

It is useful to listen to from the founder contemplating that Telegram has grow to be the dominant messaging platform for discussing the conflict in Ukraine and Russia, based on specialists. However the put up would not go far sufficient to assuage issues about person privateness fully.