Telegram opposes Chat Control law in the EU, but turns a blind eye to similar measures in Russia
Telegram has warned French users about the controversial Chat Control bill. If passed, it would give the government the right to scan private messages on any messenger, including Signal.
Pavel Durov, who is the founder of Telegram, shared the text of the message on social media. Its content is as follows:
"Today, the European Union nearly banned your right to privacy. It was set to vote on a law that would force apps to scan every private message, turning everyone’s phone into a spying tool.
France led the push for this authoritarian law. Both former and current Interior Ministers, Bruno Retailleau and Laurent Nuñez, supported it. Last March, they declared that police should see French citizens’ private messages. The Republicans and Macron’s Renaissance group voted for it.
Such measures are supposed to "fight crime", but their real target is regular people. It wouldn’t stop criminals — they could just use VPNs or special websites to hide. Officials’ and police messages wouldn’t be scanned either, since the law conveniently exempts them from surveillance. Only YOU — ordinary citizens — would face the danger of your private messages and photos being compromised.
Today, we defended privacy: Germany’s sudden stand saved our rights. But freedoms are still threatened. While French leaders push for total access to private messages, the basic rights of French people — and all Europeans — remain in danger."
Chat Control is a controversial EU legislative initiative, officially known as the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSA). It would require citizens to monitor their chats to prevent the spread of child sexual abuse material. However, critics say this approach would effectively allow authorities to scan all users' messages "just in case".
Moreover, the bill requires scanning even encrypted messages. This would require installing special spyware on Europeans' smartphones, further threatening their privacy.
It is interesting that Durov mentioned the messages in France, but remained silent about similar practices in Russia. There, the authorities already have access to correspondence on Telegram, the infrastructure of which is under the responsibility of individuals associated with the FSB, and force the owners of large channels to register them and open access.
Moreover, Durov also failed to mention the launch of the state-owned messenger Max, which is mandatory on all new smartphones and to which the Russian authorities likely have full access.
By the way, at the end of 2024, Durov announced on social networks the blocking of Russian channels in Europe and immediately compared this to the situation in Russia, where, according to him, "all Western media Telegram channels remain freely accessible in Russia." He concluded that "Russian Telegram users would enjoy more freedom than European."