Just came across #PavelDurov Durov’s first-ever interview in French with Le Point — and let me tell you, it’s packed with powerful insights and personal reveals.
🧩 First off, Durov slammed the accusations against him as “absurd.” He’s dealing with a travel ban that’s keeping him away from both his newborn son and ill parents — all without any formal charges or trial. Wild.
💬 Despite it all, he remains firmly committed to freedom of speech and platform neutrality. And here’s the big one — #Telegram is not for sale. He turned down a $1B offer from Google and said loud and clear:
“Telegram isn’t a product — it’s a project. A promise of privacy, freedom, and independence. Selling it would mean breaking that promise.”
💡 He’s also still Telegram’s sole shareholder, and if anything ever happens to him, control will shift to a nonprofit foundation to protect the platform's future.
💸 Financially, Telegram doesn’t bring Durov any personal income — it’s running with about $2 billion in debt. His wealth? It comes from his early #bitcoin investments, not the messenger itself.
📜 For the first time ever, #Durov shared details of his will:
His kids won’t touch his fortune until 30 years later
He also revealed he’s the biological father of over 100 children via anonymous sperm donation 🤯
🤖 And on the AI front, his brother Nikolai is building a radically new kind of artificial intelligence — something far beyond today’s large language models, which Durov says “can read a lot, but don’t actually understand.”
This is a rare glimpse into the mind of one of the most private tech founders out there. His story isn’t just about a messenger app — it’s about holding the line for digital independence.