America News Agency

In his personal Telegram channel, amid thanks, hearts, and thumbs-up emojis, Durov rejected claims that the messaging platform is an "anarchist haven" and criticized the French accusations as "misguided", adding:

"If a country is dissatisfied with an internet service, the established practice is to take legal action against the service itself. Using pre-smartphone era laws to accuse a CEO of crimes committed by third parties on his platform is a misguided approach."

The Russia-born tech billionaire acknowledged that Telegram is "not perfect" but noted that the company has removed millions of posts and is improving protocols to make the platform "safer and stronger".

Since its founding in 2013, Telegram has seen significant growth. It now has 950 million global users. Durov blamed "growing pains" for making it easier for criminals to abuse the platform.

In a brief Telegram post on Thursday, Durov added details about what happened following his arrest in Paris in late August.

"When I arrived in Paris last month, I was interrogated by the police for four days. I was told that I could be personally responsible for the illegal use of Telegram by others, as French authorities had not received a response from Telegram."

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau stated last week that Telegram had "almost entirely failed to respond to judicial requests", summarizing the extensive charges.