Pavel Durov
The No. 1 reason for me to support and help launch Telegram was to build a means of communication that can't be accessed by the Russian security agencies, so I can talk about it for hours.Collection: Communication
I believe that at some point we should come up with a business model that would make us sustainable.Collection: Business
We think that providing this kind of secure private means of communication for the masses for 99.999 percent of people that have nothing to do with terrorism means more than the threat that we see from the other side.Collection: Communication
Privacy is not for sale, and human rights should not be compromised out of fear or greed.Collection: Fear
Armed police at my apartment doors in 2011 was scary, but the sudden - and not exactly legal - takeover of 48 per cent of VKontakte, that coincided with a fabricated case against myself in April 2013, was more frightening.Collection: Legal
To be truly free, you should be ready to risk everything for freedom.Collection: Freedom
Obviously I do have political views - I'm a believer in the free-market economy; I also believe that without competition and respect for human rights there will be no progress because nobody will feel safe and free.Collection: Respect
The probability that we will get into a car accident is a million times higher than the probability we will suffer as a result of terrorist act.Collection: Car
Italian food is simple and healthy, and it's easier for a vegetarian to choose something from the menu.
As a foreign company and offshore entity we will not be obliged to comply with the rules of Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and countries like that.
To put it simply, it doesn't matter how many other messaging apps are out there if all of them suck.
I'm a peaceful creature; I'm vegetarian. I don't like wars.
My brother is a genius. When we went to Italy, he was on the local television channel as a prodigy, who could solve very sophisticated mathematical equations. He was only seven or eight years old but he could solve mathematical problems for fourteen year olds.
VK is famous for its competitions among third-party developers who build alternative versions of VK on its open API.
I'm very happy right now without any property anywhere.
I'm motivated by curiosity.
In America they started to refer to Telegram as 'ISIS's preferred messaging app,' But in reality there are many more legitimate users.
To give the personal details of Ukrainians to the Russian authorities would not only be against the law, but also a betrayal of those millions of people in Ukraine who trusted us.
You know the interesting thing about encryption is that it cannot be secure just for some people.
I'm in a situation where I can determine my own future.
Telegram's popularity is spread evenly across continents. We have a substantial user base in Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Germany. Also in Brazil, Mexico and Guatemala in Latin America, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Uzbekistan, across Asia.
This is a big debate concerning the values of the society in question: Whether the risk of a terrorist act is more important than the 100 percent right to privacy.
For WhatsApp to become a privacy-oriented service, it has to risk losing entire markets and clashing with authorities in their home country.
I like to make fun of serious matters.
I was born in Leningrad, U.S.S.R., before my father got an appointment at a university in Italy and we moved to Italy. I spend a few years there before my family returned to Russia.
A lot of people in the western world don't realize how much taxes limit their options. You can end up paying almost half your income in taxes, which basically means you're working for the government for 180 days a year. I think I can find better ways to use the money I make for the benefit of society.
Facebook has long been part of surveillance programs, long before it acquired WhatsApp.
When I was 11, I started building games for IBM PC XT.
At Telegram we enjoy the luxury of not having to care about income streams or advertising.
I don't like the idea of beating birds. I'm vegetarian.
I'm not afraid of anything. I'm not afraid to die, if I have to.
Political oppositionary activity on the Russian Internet caused the government to pass laws limiting both service operators and users. As a result, the Russian tech environment became much less liberal, losing freedom as one of its competitive advantages.
I never want things to be dull.
WhatsApp doesn't only fail to protect your WhatsApp messages - this app is being consistently used as a Trojan horse to spy on your non-WhatsApp photos and messages.
Governments should be smaller. In fact, governments and countries in general are less important than we think they are. They take credit for processes they have nothing to do with.
I believe in small governments or no governments. I think the majority of people want to have big government, a big brother taking care of them.
Me myself, I'm not a big fan of the idea of countries.
Some things like the layout of the early VKontakte was very influenced by Facebook. Otherwise it could take ages for me to build, and I was not a professional designer.
Any government that likes to call themselves democratic should welcome Snowden and allow him to live in their country.
If you get rid of emotion for a minute and think about the threat of terrorism statistically, it's not even there. The probability that you will slip on a wet floor in your bathroom and die is a thousand times higher than the probability of you dying as a result of terrorism.
Maybe we shouldn't be too dependent on politicians trying to make us believe that we are safe only because of their actions.
Whenever technological advancement is made it can always be used both for good or for bad.
Terrorists will always find a way to communicate. They will always find a solution.
I think we should be less dependent on the outdated concept we call countries.
It's super-interesting to see what it's like to run the most popular social media platform in a country like Iran.
The first thing that we wanted to make clear is that nobody has to trust anybody. We don't take people's trust for Telegram for granted.
I hope Telegram will be able to rely on the community even more than VK since it's a non-profit project that hopefully will be able to attract people who share the idea behind it.
When I turned 17, I created a website for the students at my University. It enabled students to share lectures and discuss exams, and became popular very quickly.
It's my responsibility to support the team behind Telegram.
I'm a big believer in Europe.