Telegram founder Pavel Durov faces charges for allowing criminal activity on the messaging app | World News

Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, is facing further investigations. He is accused of allowing criminal activities on the messaging app.

French judges have banned Mr Durov from leaving France pending further investigations, but he was able to avoid pre-trial detention thanks to a five million euro bail.

The billionaire and founder of the encrypted messaging and Social Media App was arrested in France on Saturday after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport outside Paris.

The Russian-born entrepreneur, who obtained French citizenship in 2021, is accused of operating a platform used for child sexual abuse material and by organized crime gangs for drug trafficking and fraud.

Read more: Who is Telegram founder Pavel Durov?

It is also claimed that telegram refused to provide any information or documents to investigators.

Mr Durov faces provisional charges, which under French law means that judges have good reason to believe a crime has been committed but give them more time to investigate further.

But it doesn’t necessarily have to come to trial.

Telegram stressed that it complies with EU laws and that its moderation “meets industry standards and is constantly improving.”

The statement continues: “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform.”

The arrest of Mr Durov in France and the four-day interrogation have Russia.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Mr Durov was still a Russian citizen and had all the necessary legal protections.

Some government officials claim his detention was politically motivated and evidence of Western double standards regarding freedom of expression.

As a sign of public support for the billionaire, paper airplanes depicting Telegram’s logo were also set up in Moscow.

However, Kremlin critics pointed out that Russian authorities had already tried to block the Telegram app in 2018, but failed and lifted the ban in 2020.

A government official from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also offered his support, claiming that Mr Durov was an emeritus citizen and that talks were underway with the French authorities about his arrest.

In the meantime Iranwhere Telegram is officially banned but still widely used, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised France for its “strict” crackdown on those who violate “your control” of the internet.

It has also prompted controversial influencers to Andrew Tate comparing himself to Telegram’s CEO as he battles allegations of human trafficking in Romania and other crimes he denies.

But the French President Emmanuel Macron has insisted that Mr Durov’s Arrest was not politicaland posted on X that his country was “deeply committed” to freedom of expression.

He added: “Freedoms are safeguarded within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.”

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Telegram, which claims to have nearly a billion users worldwide, was founded by Durov after he came under pressure from Russian authorities over another platform he created, VKontakte (VK).

He resisted calls to impose restrictions on Russian opposition activists and hand over personal data related to the popular social networking site.

Instead, he sold his stake in VK and left the country to focus on Telegram, which remains particularly influential in Russia. Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union.

Telegram offers end-to-end encryption – which effectively protects data from interception – and attaches great importance to data protection.

But although it is an important source of information about Russia’s war in Ukraine, it has also been used for criminal activities and, more recently, by right-wing extremist activists who sparked unrest in Great Britain about the Stabbings in Southport.

Western governments often criticize Telegram for its lack of content moderation. Experts say this puts the messaging app at risk of being misused by criminal and extremist gangs.

In 2022, Germany fined Telegram €5.1 million (£3.7 million) for violating laws regulating large online platforms, including for failing to provide a way to report illegal content.