April 17, 2024
The creator of the social network VKontakte and the Telegram messenger Pavel Durov gave an interview to the American journalist, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The interview was released in video format, which is rare for Durov.
How told entrepreneur the day before, the conversation with Carlson took place in February. At the same time, an interview between an American conservative journalist and Russian President Vladimir Putin was published.
Durov said that on the day of the conversation with Carlson, he also gave a three-hour interview to a “journalist with liberal views.” He did not name the journalist. At the beginning of March it was published Durov’s interview with the British newspaper Financial Times.
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What Durov said
- The idea of creating Telegram came to Durov after searches and pressure from Russian security forces due to his refusal to delete opposition groups on the VKontakte social network. According to Durov, during the searches he realized that he did not have a secure method of communication, and thought that an application where communication would be protected by encryption might be a good idea. The code for such an application was written by Durov’s brother Nikolai, and he himself was responsible for the functionality and design.
- Rumors about Telegram being controlled by the Russian authorities, according to Durov, are spread and supported by the messenger’s competitors, who do not like the growth of its audience. According to Durov, Telegram has not spent “a dollar” on marketing, but at the same time 2.5 million users register on it daily, and their total number has reached 900 million.
- Before arriving in Dubai, where the Telegram team is now based, Durov considered several other locations, including Berlin, London and Singapore, but encountered bureaucratic difficulties everywhere. In particular, in Germany it was difficult to hire top programmers who work outside the EU, the entrepreneur complained.
- Durov also considered moving to the United States, but he did not like the attention of the intelligence services there. According to the creator of Telegram, during his last visit to the States, they tried to recruit his engineer to implement backdoors [программ для скрытого удаленного доступа] in the application, and he was accompanied by security officers at the airport. In addition, during a trip to San Francisco, he experienced a street robbery for the first time in his life, which came as a shock to him.
- According to Durov, he, in principle, tries not to come to countries that are “major geopolitical players,” such as the USA, Russia and China. The authorities of such countries are paying increased attention to Telegram, and the platform wants to remain politically neutral, Durov claims. He considers the need to take sides to be a big problem of our time.
- The UAE, where Durov has lived for seven years, is, in his opinion, a “politically neutral” state. According to the entrepreneur, in Dubai he was never pressured by local authorities. In addition, he likes the ease of doing business in the Emirates, the opportunity to hire people from all over the world, low taxes and developed infrastructure.
- Given the attention of intelligence services in different countries, Durov by default believes that all the devices he uses are compromised from a security point of view.
- Durov welcomes the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk, since the social network, in his opinion, is “becoming a greater supporter of freedom of speech” and is trying to introduce innovations.
