Telegram employee Pavel Durov accused of criminal activities

Consequences of lack of moderation? French authorities charge Pavel Durov for alleged criminal activities on the platform

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with several crimes by French authorities.

The Guardian reported that Durov, 39, was provisionally charged by French justice for allegedly allowing criminal activity on the messaging app, but Durov was released from prison on Wednesday on €5 million (£4.2 million or $5.5 million) bail and other conditions.

A provisional indictment under French law means that French judges have good reason to believe that a crime has been committed, but give them more time to investigate further.

Content moderation

Last Saturday, Durov was arrested and taken into police custody at Le Bourget airport near Paris, shortly after landing on a private jet from Azerbaijan.

There was speculation in the media that Durov visited Azerbaijan to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin (who was visiting the same city at the same time), but Russian officials denied that the two had met.

According to sources, at the time of his arrest, Durov had been arrested as part of a police investigation. He is accused of allowing a wide range of crimes to be committed due to a lack of content moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with the police.

However, it later emerged that the Paris public prosecutor’s office had issued an arrest warrant against Durov as part of an investigation launched on July 8 into organized crime, drug trafficking, fraud and the distribution of pornographic images of minors on the platform.

It is also alleged that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators, despite being required to do so by law.

On Sunday, the French judicial authorities extended Pavel Durov’s detention.

Provisional fees

Now the Guardian reported that Durov has been provisionally charged with a number of alleged violations related to the messaging app, including aiding and abetting the distribution of sexual images of children.

After a four-day interrogation, Durov was released on the condition that he report to the police twice a week and remain in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

Durov lives in Dubai and holds French and United Arab Emirates citizenship.

It was also reported that Durov remains a citizen of Russia and the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

His arrest came as a surprise to many and highlighted the consequences that alleged criminal liability on social media platforms can have for owners or executives.

His arrest also sparked a debate about freedom of expression and state censorship.

Telegram history

Dubai-based Telegram is widely used in countries of the former Soviet Union and the Middle East and is considered the most popular instant messaging application in parts of Europe, Asia and Africa.

Founded in 2013 by Nikolai and Pavel Durov, Telegram has been growing steadily ever since, and is said to have nearly 1 billion users.

Telegram is 100 percent owned by Pavel Durov and Forbes estimates his fortune at $15.5 billion.

Pavel Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to close opposition communities on his social media platform VK, which he had sold.

Russian authorities had previously accused Telegram of enabling terrorists to communicate secretly through encrypted messages. They had also accused the app of hiding the messages of the suicide bomber who killed 15 people in Saint Petersburg in April 2017.

The app has also been used in the past by the Islamic State (IS) for propaganda purposes, particularly by terrorists based in Russia, but the company has made efforts to crack down on these terror accounts.

However, Telegram has consistently refused to comply with the demands of the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB, which wanted access to certain messages for its work, including to protect against terrorist attacks, on the grounds of respecting the privacy of its users.

In fact, Durov has always been vocal in his opposition to sharing confidential data with government agencies.

False flag operation?

Durov also dismissed questions about claims that Telegram is controlled by Russia, calling them a false rumor spread by competitors concerned about Telegram’s growth.

“I would rather be free than take orders from anyone,” Durov reportedly said about his departure from Russia.

Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after the app refused to comply with a court order giving the state security service access to its users’ encrypted messages.

However, in 2020, access to Telegram was restored in Russia, sparking speculation that Telegram may have ties to the Russian government – ​​a claim Telegram continues to deny.

While Durov has at times portrayed himself as a Russian exile, leaked border data seen by the Guardian showed that he visited Russia more than 50 times between 2015 and 2021, leading to renewed speculation about his ties to the Kremlin.