Digital Privacy Defense: The Fight Against Legislation in France
Last month, the French Senate nearly approved a bill that would require messaging services to implement a "backdoor" for police access to end-to-end encrypted messages. However, the National Assembly rejected the controversial measure, marking a temporary victory for digital privacy advocates in France. Just three days ago, the Paris police prefect renewed support for this initiative, as reported by Telegram founder Pavel Durov.
Durov congratulated the lawmakers for rejecting the "law that would have made France the first country in the world to strip its citizens of the right to privacy." He warned that any built-in "backdoors" for law enforcement "could be exploited by other parties – from foreign agents to hackers – compromising the private messages of all law-abiding citizens."
Although supporters of the bill argued it would aid in the fight against drug trafficking, Durov expressed skepticism about its effectiveness. "Even if the major encrypted platforms were weakened, criminals would simply switch to dozens of lesser-known apps and protect their communications via VPN," he explained.
According to Durov, Telegram, which has over 700 million users worldwide, has adhered to a strict no "backdoor" policy for 12 years. "We would rather exit the market than betray encryption and violate fundamental human rights," Durov emphasized, comparing Telegram's approach to competitors who "trade privacy for market share."
Under the EU Digital Services Act, he noted, Telegram complies with legal court orders, revealing only IP addresses and phone numbers of suspects – but never the content of their messages. "We have never transmitted a single byte of private messages," Durov asserted.
Despite the recent legislative defeat in France, Durov warned that the fight for encryption is far from over. In March, the European Commission proposed a similar initiative to introduce "backdoors" in messaging apps across the European Union.
While Durov positions Telegram as a messaging service with end-to-end encryption, he has faced criticism for allegedly overstating its security. Notably, in 2021, Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike claimed that even Facebook Messenger provides better privacy protection than Telegram, as end-to-end encryption (E2EE) is activated in Telegram only in "secret chats" and not enabled by default for all conversations.