On April 17, PANews reported that Telegram founder Pavel Durov posted on his personal channel questioning the design of the EU's newly launched "age verification app," alleging a conspiracy. Durov claimed the app was hacked just two minutes after its release and pointed out that this rudimentary vulnerability was likely a deliberate arrangement by EU bureaucrats: first, a supposedly "privacy-friendly" but fragile tool was launched; after being hacked, the privacy protections were conveniently removed under the pretext of "strengthening security," ultimately transforming it into a means of surveillance targeting social media users across Europe.

Durov cautioned users to remain highly vigilant, arguing that the current "accidental breaches" are merely an excuse for the EU to shift from privacy protection to comprehensive scrutiny. Durov warned that such measures could evolve into surveillance tools targeting all users.