The founder and CEO of instant messaging platform Telegram, Pavel Durov, remains in custody which might last up to four days, after being detained in France, Reuters reports based on local media coverage.
The Russia-born billionaire was arrested on Saturday by French authorities after his jet landed at the airport near Paris. There is very little information available about the reasons for Durov’s arrest. It seems the lack of cooperation with authorities—something Telegram is widely known for—led to Durov being accused of complicity in a series of serious crimes, such as organized crime, drug trafficking, fraud, cyberbullying, and the promotion of terrorism.
Although Telegram offers voluntary end-to-end encryption for private chats, both the public and private group chats are unencrypted. That creates an opportunity for law enforcers to seek access to communication of criminals using the platform to organize their activities.
Late Sunday, the Telegram messenger released the following official statement:
“Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act—its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.”
The Digital Services Act is relatively new EU-wide legislation that regulates digital services including social media. Simply said, it primarily aims to punish online activities that are already illegal in the physical world. As part of the regulation, platform providers are pushed to be more transparent and implement necessary means—to a reasonable level—to avoid misuse of their services.
Even though Telegram has almost a billion users, the company consists of only around 30 employees. In many countries, the platform offers a relatively safe platform for free speech, especially in authoritarian countries. In others, though, it is mainly used by criminals and disinformation actors.
Therefore, while Durov’s approach can be indeed helpful in some countries, it can also be very harmful in others.
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