Telegram founder vows to fight illegal activity on platform as he faces charges in France

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said he will fight illegal activity on the app following his charges from French authorities. 

“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,” Durov wrote in a post on Telegram, according to ABC News.

“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," the post continued. 

Last month, Durov was indicted by a court in France for alleged complicity in multiple crimes occurring on Telegram.

Some of the charges include complicity in the distribution of child pornography, gang-related charges, fraud, and drug trafficking.

Durov said that users on the app have 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," his post continued. "We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon."