Telegram founder denies claims of inaction on child abuse, cites misleading narrative

Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated on X that French foreign intelligence officials met with the platform under the pretext of combating terrorism and child abuse, but discussions focused mainly on geopolitical matters involving Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. He clarified that child abuse was not discussed in the meeting. Durov defended Telegram’s record on combating child exploitation, citing tools like content fingerprinting, dedicated moderation, NGO hotlines and public transparency reports. Durov called suggestions Telegram ignored child abuse content misleading and manipulative.