Telegram’s Pavel Durov responds to Russia’s terrorism designation

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said Russian authorities designated him a “terrorist” after he refused government demands for mass surveillance and censorship on the messaging platform, responding publicly a day after Russia announced charges against him.In a Telegram post on Thursday, Durov also said Russia had barred him from “publishing information on the Internet,” adding that authorities had “got confused about who can ban whom from the Internet.”Source: Telegram, Pavel DurovThe comments came a day after Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Durov of facilitating terrorist activity, alleging Telegram failed to remove channels used by terrorist groups and Ukrainian intelligence services.The case builds on a criminal investigation Russia launched in February, when regulators accused Telegram of leaving nearly 155,000 channels, chats and bots online despite claims they violated Russian laws covering extremist content, terrorism, drug trafficking and other illicit activity.Related: Pavel Durov says Telegram to roll out native Gram crypto walletDurov’s legal battles extend beyond RussiaThe Russian case adds to Durov’s legal challenges abroad. Durov was arrested in France in August...