Janice R. Andrews
AFP has learned that Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested at Le Bourget Airport near Paris on Saturday night. He was apparently arrested because of suspected illegal activities related to his famous messaging app. The French-Russian billionaire, 39, who just got back from Azerbaijan’s Baku, is set to go to court on Sunday.
The arrest happened after a probe by France’s OFMIN, which is in charge of keeping kids safe from abuse. Several sources say that Durov is being accused of fraud, drug dealing, harassment, organized crime, and supporting terrorism. There are claims that Durov failed to stop criminals from using Telegram, which let it turn into a safe place for illegal activities.
When a detective found out that Durov was wanted, he decided to go to Paris anyway, saying, “Enough of Telegram’s impunity.”
Phone app Telegram is a “privacy” platform.
The private messaging app Telegram, which is based in Dubai, has long pitched itself as a safer option to US-owned platforms that are known for using users’ personal information for their own gain. The fact that Telegram promises to never share user data has made it popular with people who want more privacy and freedom online.
Durov told Tucker Carlson, a right-wing talk show host, in April that the idea for Telegram came to him when the Russian government put pressure on him at VK, the social network he started before selling it and leaving Russia in 2014. Durov lived in Berlin, London, Singapore, and San Francisco before settling down in Dubai, where he liked the business climate and “neutrality.”
During the interview, Durov said that Telegram had more than 900 million daily users. He said that the app’s success was due to its dedication to freedom and privacy. By being based in the United Arab Emirates, Telegram has been able to escape the moderation rules that Western countries are putting more and more pressure on tech companies to use to stop illegal material.
Telegram has been criticized for not having enough moderators. The platform is said to help spread hateful, pedophilic, conspiracy, and terrorist content. In 2019, WhatsApp put limits on message sharing after being accused of helping spread false information in India. Telegram, on the other hand, lets groups of up to 200,000 people exist, which makes it easier for harmful and false information to spread without being stopped.
It’s important to note that Durov’s arrest is a turning point in the ongoing discussion about how tech companies should police material on their websites.
