π¨βπ« A month ago, my father β a leading expert in Ancient Roman literature β turned 80. I asked what advice I should pass to the next generation. He gave me 3:
π¨βπ» 1. Lead by example. People β especially kids β follow what you do, not what you say. Watching my father work tirelessly on numerous books and scientific papers showed me and my brother the meaning of dedication and inspired us to work hard too.
π 2. Focus on the positive. Growing up in post-war Leningrad, my father learned to control emotions to be a positive force for his family, colleagues and society. He taught me to frame thoughts in ways that bring the most good, even in hard times.
π«‘ 3. Prioritize conscience. Studying and translating thinkers from Julius Caesar to Seneca, my father saw that morals outlast talent. Moral compass, unlike intelligence or creativity, is the ultimate human quality that will not lose value even in the age of AI.
As Telegram turns 12 today, I want it to keep following my fatherβs advice: 1 β π Lead by example, setting trends for the messaging world, 2 β π Be a positive force, bringing joy to our users, and 3 β β€οΈ Prioritize conscience, staying true to our principles.
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π A week ago, Tucker Carlson published an interview with me about what happened in France. It was covered by media in many countries β except, interestingly, in France. π€
π° The French media hasnβt lost interest in Telegram. Last week, Le Monde, the countryβs main newspaper, invited its readers to report whether they watch pirated football matches on Telegram. This attempt to crowdsource a negative story about us is a part of a broader strategy.
In just the 7 weeks following my arrest in Paris, Le Monde published 40 negative articles about Telegram. In violation of journalistic ethics, they did not ask us for a comment in 37 of these 40 articles and always ignored the factual corrections we sent them. π€¦ββοΈ
Last month, France nearly banned encryption. A law requiring messaging apps to implement a backdoor for police access to private messages was passed by the Senate. Luckily, it was shot down by the National Assembly. Yet 3 days ago the Paris Police Prefect advocated for it again.
The members of the National Assembly were wise to reject a law that would have made France the first country in the world to strip its citizens of their right to privacy. Even countries that many Europeans view as lacking in freedoms have never banned encryption. Why?
Because itβs technically impossible to guarantee that only the police can access a backdoor. Once introduced, a backdoor can be exploited by other parties β from foreign agents to hackers. As a result, the private messages of all law abiding citizens can get compromised.
The blockchain industry was built on the promise of decentralization, but ended up being concentrated in the hands of a few who began to abuse their power.
The solution is clear: blockchain-based projects should go back to their roots β decentralization. Cryptocurrency users should switch to trustless transactions and self-hosted wallets.
We, developers, should steer the blockchain industry away from centralization by building fast and easy-to-use decentralized applications for the masses. Such projects are finally feasible today.