Telegram Declares Compliance with EU Digital Services Act

Messaging app Telegram has said it is fully compliant with European Union law and that its content moderation practices are within “industry norms.”

“Telegram complies with EU law, including the Digital Services Act – its moderation is within industry standards and is constantly evolving,” the company said in a statement. “Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently to Europe.”

The statement comes a day after the company’s CEO was arrested by local authorities at a French airport. Durov’s arrest follows a criminal complaint filed by French law enforcement over the platform’s moderation practices.

Although no formal charge sheet has yet been issued by prosecutors, initial media reports suggest that prosecutors hold Durov and Telegram responsible for criminal activity organized on Telegram.

“It is a complete nonsense to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform,” Telegram said in a statement.

“Immediately after the media reported on the arrest of PV Durov, we asked the French authorities for an explanation and demanded that Durov’s rights be protected and that he be given consular access. The Russian embassy in France said in a statement that the French side refused to cooperate.”

“All major social media apps are easy targets because of the content they host. There is no major social platform whose moderation is praised by traditional media.”

“The media coverage of Meta’s moderation issues was also negative for the majority. Interestingly, Meta also became the first social media company to make a trillion dollars. Telegram will probably have to go through similar stages.”

Tron founder Justin Sun announced that he was willing to donate $1 million to Durov “if there is enough community support in a decentralized manner.” Many in the crypto community have expressed their support for Durov.

According to CoinDesk Indices data, Toncoin (TON)’s losses slowed down and fell by 2.45% during the day.