Telegram founder worries about EU Chat Control bill: France attempts to monitor all users' chat rooms

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, recently mentioned the French government's push for the EU “Chat Control” bill, criticizing the bill for attempting to force all messaging apps to scan private messages. If passed, it would expose the conversations of millions of European citizens to government surveillance. Ultimately, Germany cast a no vote at the last moment, which temporarily shelved the bill.

France leads the push for EU chat monitoring legislation: Telegram warns users to be cautious

Durov stated that France is actively promoting the “Chat Control” bill within the European Union, which requires major communication platforms, including Telegram, Signal, and WhatsApp, to automatically scan users' photos, files, and text content to detect illegal information.

Telegram therefore issues a notice to all French users, reminding them that this policy will destroy the last line of digital privacy, treating every citizen as a potential criminal.

He bluntly stated that former French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and current Minister Laurent Nuñez are both supporters of this bill, yet they excluded the communications of government officials from the provisions, creating a double standard.

Durov also pointed out that this proposal not only goes against European human rights values but is also technically ineffective:

Real criminals can easily evade surveillance through VPNs or offshore servers, while it will ultimately be law-abiding citizens whose conversations, photos, and files are exposed.

Is the crypto community the biggest victim? Telegram conversations have nowhere to hide.

It is not hard to imagine that as one of the audiences of Telegram, the cryptocurrency community needs to be more vigilant about this bill.

Due to many crypto communities, developers, and investors relying on Telegram for internal coordination and communication, if the platform activates monitoring features, it may lead to the leakage of industry secrets or wallet information.

Reports indicate that privacy in the crypto world is not only a personal right but also the foundation of financial sovereignty. Once encrypted communications are compromised, the entire decentralized industry will lose the basis for secure cooperation.

( Telegram founder Pavel Durov revealed that France had pressured to delete the Moldova account ).

Germany casts a no vote at the last minute, and the EU surveillance bill is temporarily shelved.

The EU was scheduled to vote on Chat Control this week, but Germany cast a last-minute vote against it, preventing the bill from passing. Durov called this a “temporary” defense of digital rights in Europe, but he warned that France and other supporting countries might still propose new versions of the monitoring proposal in the future.

He revealed that Germany, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, and Belgium are opponents of the bill, which will be voted on again this December. At that time, major messaging apps may face compliance risks in the EU market and could even be forced to exit.

The Privacy War is Not Over: Durov Calls for Users to Stay Vigilant

Durov's final call urges users to continuously pay attention to any policies that threaten encryption and communication freedom. He emphasized: “Our rights were saved under the expression in Germany, but freedom is still under threat.”

French leaders are pushing for comprehensive surveillance of private messages, putting the fundamental rights of the French people and all Europeans at risk.

Today, the tug-of-war between surveillance and privacy remains a core issue that Europe cannot escape in the digital age.

This article discusses Telegram founder's concerns about the EU Chat Control bill: France attempts to monitor all users' chat rooms, first appearing in Chain News ABMedia.