Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron is leading a coordinated attempt to impose mass surveillance on Europeans. According to the Russian entrepreneur, France has been the main driving force behind an initiative in the European Parliament that sought to force messaging platforms to scan all private messages.
“Once a government claims the right to inspect citizens' messages, freedom disappears” he stated. There, he explained that the project, presented under the pretext of fighting crime and child abuse, actually opened the door to a system of total surveillance over the private lives of millions of people.
The founder of Telegram targeted political figures close to Macron, such as former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and his successor Laurent Nuñez, who openly supported the proposal. According to Durov, the law "would have created a system where ordinary citizens would be under permanent scrutiny".
