ISTANBUL

The CEO of Telegram vowed that the app would leave France if authorities keep pushing for a grant to access messages.

“Telegram would rather exit a market than undermine encryption with backdoors and violate basic human rights,” Pavel Durov wrote Monday on X.

Durov noted that the French National Assembly was “wise” to reject a law last month that proposed a ban on encryption, which would have made France the first country to “strip its citizens of their right to privacy.”

The encryption dispute, however, was renewed after being advocated last Friday by the Paris Police Prefect, according to the Telegram CEO.

“It’s technically impossible to guarantee that only the police can access a backdoor. Once introduced, a backdoor can be exploited by other parties — from foreign agents to hackers. As a result, the private messages of all law-abiding citizens can get compromised,” Durov wrote.

He said the law would not help combat drug trafficking as criminals could still communicate using smaller apps despite the backdoor.

“In accordance with the EU Digital Services Act, if provided with a valid court order, Telegram would only disclose the IP addresses and phone numbers of criminal suspects — not messages,” he said.

Durov noted that the European Commission also proposed a similar initiative for backdoors for messaging apps, underlining that “no country is immune to the slow erosion of freedoms.”

“We must keep explaining to lawmakers that encryption isn’t built to protect criminals — it protects the privacy and safety of ordinary people. Losing that protection would be tragic,” Durov added.