Telegram founder arrested to set an example – Guilty or not, if you don’t cooperate with authorities, you will be in jail?

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born entrepreneur who founded the Telegram messaging platform, was charged recently by the French authorities with a wide range of crimes related to illicit activity on the app.

Since Mr. Durov was arrested in a weekend, some supporters of Telegram have denounced the case as an example of government censorship. The platform’s growth has been fueled partly by its hands-off approach to content moderation, making it an important means of communication but also a haven for harmful content, as authorities put it.

The charges against Pavel Durov are wide ranging.

Mr. Durov was placed under formal investigation on a range of charges, including complicity in managing an online platform to enable illegal transactions and a refusal to cooperate with law enforcement, Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, said in a statement.

Ms. Beccuau said Mr. Durov had been ordered to pay bail of 5 million euros, or about $5.5 million, and was released but needs to check in at a police station twice a week. He is barred from leaving the country.

His arrest was part of a broad investigation into criminal activity on Telegram.

Mr. Durov was arrested at Le Bourget Airport, about five miles north of the French capital, after landing on a private plane from Azerbaijan.

French prosecutors had said Mr. Durov was detained in connection with a wide-ranging investigation opened recently into criminal activity on the platform.

Ms. Beccuau said Telegram had appeared in multiple criminal cases tied to child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking and online hate crimes, but had shown a “near-total absence” of replies to requests for cooperation from Paris prosecutors. Other prosecutors around France, as well as legal authorities in other European countries, “have shared the same observation,” she said.

Telegram’s popularity has been driven by light oversight and a commitment to free speech.

The messaging platform, which was founded in 2013, has more than 900 million users and is popular in countries like Brazil, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Ukraine. Telegram’s light oversight of what users say or do on the platform has helped people to communicate, organize and share news. But it has also made the app a tool for terrorist organizations, drug sellers and far-right extremist groups, the authorities claim.

Telegram works as a standard messaging app, like iMessage or WhatsApp, but also hosts channels and groups in which very large numbers of people can broadcast ideas.

In its statement, Telegram said it “abides by European Union laws, including the Digital Services Act.” The European Commission said Mr. Durov’s arrest in France was unrelated to the act, which requires online services to police their platforms for illicit content.

“The arrest was conducted under French criminal law,” a spokesperson for the commission said. “Criminal prosecution is not among the potential sanctions for a breach of the D.S.A.”

Mr. Durov’s arrest stoked a debate about free speech online.

Mr. Durov’s arrest has caused a firestorm, turning him into a folk hero among those concerned about free speech and government censorship, especially as scrutiny of online content has increased globally.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, and Edward Snowden, the American intelligence contractor who fled to Russia after disclosing classified information, were among those who raced to Mr. Durov’s defense. The hashtag #FreePavel spread on X.

President Emmanuel Macron of France has dismissed accusations of censorship, saying that the arrest was “in no way a political decision” and that his country was “deeply committed to freedom of expression.”

Mr. Durov’s anti-establishment streak helped Telegram grow, but it also put a target on his back.

Mr. Durov, 39, was born in Russia, moved with his family to northern Italy as a child and returned to Russia in the early 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed. Vkontakte, a virtual communication networking service he started in 2006, quickly dominated Russia and attracted notice from the Kremlin, which demanded information about the platform’s users.

Mr. Durov said he had begun building Telegram as a safer way to communicate. He left Russia in 2014 after he lost control of Vkontakte and eventually decamped to Dubai, where he said the government would not interfere with his business.

Over the years, Telegram has taken down some content, such as child sexual abuse material or posts explicitly aimed at inciting violence. But the authorities have often been frustrated by Mr. Durov’s “lack of cooperation”.

Telegram has faced temporary or permanent bans in 31 countries, according to Surfshark, a maker of VPN software used to avoid internet blocks.

It is interesting to note that Pavel Durov’s main competitor, Mark Zuckerberg, has been often pointed by the civil society as his Meta (former Facebook) and WhatsApp are hosting many paedophilia pages and groups, but he did not face any charges as he is happily cooperating with authorities anytime they ask for private details of his networks’ users, for ‘offenses’ such as expressing views against mandatory vaccination or their political opinions.

 

yogaesoteric
September 8, 2024