Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, pictured above [File]
| Photo Credit: AP

The founder of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, under investigation in France, said early on Friday that French authorities should have approached his company with their complaints rather than detaining him.

Durov, writing on his Telegram channel in his first public comments since his detention last month, denied any suggestion the app was an “anarchic paradise”.

He said the investigation into the app was surprising in that French authorities had access to a “hot line” he had helped set up and they could have contacted Telegram’s EU representative at any time.

“If a country is unhappy with an Internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself,” he wrote.

“Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach.”

Telegram, he said, was not perfect, but he denied any abuse associated with the app.

“But the claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue,” he wrote. “We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day.”

Durov, born in Russia but now a French national, was detained late last month in France amid an investigation into crimes related to child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions associated with the app.

French President Emmanuel Macron during a press conference on August 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

French President Emmanuel Macron has defended his decision to give special fast-track citizenship to Telegram messaging app CEO Pavel Durov, who is now under preliminary charges in France over alleged criminal activity on his popular platform.

Mr. Macron on Thursday (August 29, 2024) also said he was unaware that Durov was coming to France before his surprise weekend arrest, and had no plans to meet with him.

Free-speech advocates, far-right figures and authoritarian governments around the world have spoken out in Durov’s defence and criticised French authorities over the case. Durov was freed on 5 million euro bail but barred from leaving France and ordered to report to a police station twice a week pending further investigation.

French prosecutors accuse Durov of complicity in allowing drug trafficking and sharing of sexual images of children on Telegram, and of refusing to cooperate with authorities investigating illegal activity on the app.

Durov’s lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski told French media, “It’s totally absurd to think that the person in charge of a social network could be implicated in criminal acts that don’t concern him, directly or indirectly.” The case has called attention to the challenges of policing illegal activity online — and to the Russia-born Durov’s unusual biography and multiple passports.

Speaking at a news conference while on a visit to Serbia, Macron said France supports freedom of expression and the liberty of entrepreneurs. He said that approving Durov’s request for French nationality — like high-profile sports stars, performers and others who contribute to France’s wealth and learn French — was ‘good for our country.” He also mentioned Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, who like Durov won French citizenship not through the normal difficult and bureaucratic process but via a special process for ‘merited foreigners’.

French satirical and investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchaine reported that Durov told police upon his arrest Saturday that he was planning to meet Mr.Macron.

Mr. Macron denied that. “I was absolutely not aware of Mr Durov’s arrival in France,” he said, adding, “It is false that I offered any kind of invitation to him…His arrest was an independent act of French justice.”

Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

French prosecutors on Wednesday (August 28, 2024) freed Telegram CEO Pavel Durov from police custody after four days of questioning over allegations that the platform is being used for illegal activities.

Mr. Durov was detained on Saturday (August 24, 2024) at Le Bourget airport outside Paris as part of a judicial inquiry opened last month involving 12 alleged criminal violations.

Also Read: ​Reasonable restrictions: On Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest and content hosting

“An investigating judge has ended Pavel Durov’s police custody and will have him brought to court for a first appearance and a possible indictment,” a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

Other allegations against Mr. Durov, who is a French citizen, include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, fraud and abetting organised crime transactions and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law.

Paris:

Relations between Moscow and Paris have reached a nadir following the arrest of Russian-born Telegram boss Pavel Durov, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, after the tech billionaire’s detention was extended until Wednesday.

Durov, who has French as well as Russian nationality, was arrested near Paris over the weekend as part of an investigation into crimes related to images of child sex abuse, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform, French prosecutors said on Monday.

It remains unclear if he knew about the threat of arrest in France. Durov’s French lawyer did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Durov’s arrest has plunged Moscow-Paris ties to their lowest level, Lavrov said on Tuesday, capping months of deteriorating relations between the two nations.

French authorities accused Russia of trying to destabilise it ahead of the Paris Olympics in response to its more hawkish stance on the Ukraine war – claims Russia has denied.

Durov’s detention was extended by 48 hours late on Monday, a spokesperson for the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday. After that, prosecutors will either need to charge or release him. Should he face charges, his flight risk status is a factor judges have to include in their assessment of possible pretrial detention, according to French law.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday that Russia was ready to provide Durov with all necessary assistance given his Russian citizenship, but that his French citizenship complicated the situation. Durov also holds a UAE passport.

“The charges are very serious indeed,” said Peskov. “They require a no less serious basis of evidence. Otherwise they will be a direct attempt to limit freedom of communication.”

FREE SPEECH DEBATE

Durov’s arrest has sparked a debate about the limits of free speech online, with X-owner Elon Musk saying the right to expression in Europe was under attack. It also underlines a movement by governments around the world to take a tougher line on policing illegal activity that flourishes on some platforms.

Brazil’s supreme court briefly suspended Telegram nationwide in 2022 over its failure to comply with judicial orders.

With close to 1 billion users, Telegram is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It presents itself as a haven for free speech, but is also widely used by far-right, anti-vax and conspiracist movements, as well as political dissidents.

The platform has become crucial to battlefield communications in the war in Ukraine and is used by governments and soldiers on both sides of the war to share war-related news and propaganda.

Without providing evidence, Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, earlier said the United States, through France, was attempting to exert control over Telegram.

“Telegram is one of the few and at the same time the largest Internet platforms over which the United States has no influence,” Volodin said in a post.

“On the eve of the U.S. presidential election, it is important for (President Joe) Biden to take Telegram under control.”

The White House has yet to comment on Durov’s arrest.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is known to be an avid user of the app, has said that the arrest was “in no way a political decision”.

Russia has previously tried, and failed, to block Telegram and fined the company several times for failing to delete what it deemed illegal content.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Encrypted messaging app Telegram on Monday said that its CEO Pavel Durov — who was arrested in France — has nothing to hide and “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”

In its first reaction after Russian-born Durov was arrested at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris after landing via a private jet for allegedly failing to prevent criminal activities on Telegram, the company said it abides by the EU laws, including the ‘Digital Services Act’.

“Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as a means of communication and as a source of vital information. We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation,” said the platform which has more than 900 million active users.

“Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving,” the company added.

The platform has been a critical source of information for the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. In a rare interview with US political commentator Tucker Carlson in April, Durov said Telegram’s goal is to be a “neutral” platform and resist requests from governments to moderate.

If convicted, Durov faces up to 20 years in prison. According to multiple reports, he was arrested on several charges which involved alleged spread of criminal activity on Telegram which has about 900 million active users.

The billionaire lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based, and holds dual citizenship of France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). An entrepreneur with at least $15.5 billion in his kitty, he left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to ban opposition communities on his VKontakte social media platform.

Russia’s embassy in France is taking “immediate steps” to clarify the situation. Telegram offers end-to-end encrypted messaging and users can also set up “channels” to disseminate information quickly to followers.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)