The founder of the messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, has denounced via the social network X the attempts by Emmanuel Macron and his government to impose mass control over European citizens’ private communications. According to Durov, France has been one of the main drivers of a legislative proposal that would have forced messaging platforms to scan all private messages, turning millions of people’s phones into “tools of state surveillance.”
In a statement sent to Telegram users in France, the Russian entrepreneur warned that this measure—presented under the pretext of combating crime and child abuse—actually represented a direct threat to privacy and fundamental freedoms. Durov pointed out that French political figures such as former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and his successor Laurent Nuñez openly supported the initiative, as did the political parties The Republicans and the Renaissance group, linked to President Macron.
The founder of Telegram emphasized that, had it been approved, the regulation would have established a system of mass surveillance in which ordinary citizens would be the main victims, while public officials and security forces would be exempt from scrutiny. “Real criminals would continue to find ways to hide using VPNs or alternative encrypted services, but honest citizens would lose their right to privacy,” he noted.
Durov welcomed Germany’s intervention, which temporarily halted the vote on this law in the European Parliament, an action that, according to him, has momentarily preserved the right to privacy on the continent. However, he warned that digital freedoms remain under threat as long as governments like France insist on having full access to citizens’ private messages.
“Today we have defended privacy, but tomorrow they could try again,” Durov concluded, urging Europeans to remain vigilant against what he described as “an authoritarian drift disguised as protection.”
