Pavel Durov, co-founder of Telegram. File | Picture credit score: AP
On Wednesday (28 August 2024), France charged Pavel Durov, the founder and head of Telegram, with a litany of violations associated to the messaging app and banned him from leaving the nation, though it allowed the billionaire to stroll free after 4 days in custody.
Durov, 39, was charged with a number of counts of failing to curb extremist and unlawful content material on the favored messaging app following a listening to with investigating magistrates in Paris.
Russian-born Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport outdoors Paris on Saturday night and questioned within the following days below arrest by investigators.
He was launched on bail of 5 million euros provided that he report back to a police station twice per week and stay in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau mentioned in a press release.
The fees relate to alleged crimes involving an organized group, together with “complicity within the administration of an internet platform to allow an illegal transaction.”
Durov has additionally been charged with refusing to share paperwork requested by authorities, in addition to “dissemination in an organised group of pictures of minors in youngster pornography”, in addition to drug trafficking, fraud and cash laundering.
His lawyer, David-Olivier Kaminski, mentioned it was “absurd” to recommend Durov may very well be implicated in any wrongdoing on the app, including that “Telegram complies in all respects with European guidelines on digital know-how.”
Individually, Durov can also be being investigated on suspicion of “critical acts of violence” towards certainly one of his sons whereas he and his ex-partner, the boy’s mom, have been in Paris, a supply mentioned. She additionally filed one other criticism towards Durov in Switzerland final yr.
‘It isn’t political’
The tech mogul based Telegram when he was about to go away his native Russia a decade in the past. Its development has been exponential and the app now has greater than 900 million customers.
An enigmatic determine who hardly ever speaks in public, Mr Durov is a citizen of Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates, the place Telegram relies.
Forbes The journal estimates his present fortune at $15.5 billion, although he proudly promotes the virtues of an ascetic life that features ice baths and no alcohol or espresso.
Quite a few questions have been raised concerning the timing and circumstances of Durov’s arrest, with supporters viewing him as a defender of free speech and detractors as a menace who intentionally allowed Telegram to spiral uncontrolled.
The world The paper reported on Wednesday that Durov had met President Emmanuel Macron on a number of events earlier than being granted French nationality in 2021, by way of a particular process reserved for these deemed to have made a particular contribution to France.
The Wall Road Journal added that at a lunch in 2018, Macron, who alongside together with his group was up to now an avid consumer of Telegram, had advised that the headquarters ought to be in Paris, however Durov refused.
In response to a supply near the case, confirming a narrative first revealed on information website Politico, each Pavel Durov and his older brother Nikolai, a low-profile determine seen because the mathematical mastermind behind Telegram, have been needed by France since March this yr.
In a submit on X to handle what he known as “false info” concerning the case, Macron mentioned the arrest was “by no means a political choice” and that it was “as much as the judges to determine.”
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the allegations have been very critical and due to this fact wanted “no much less critical proof.”
Amongst these expressing assist was tech mogul and X CEO Elon Musk, who posted feedback below the hashtag #FreePavel.
‘Virtually whole absence’
Mr Durov left Russia a decade in the past whereas creating Telegram amid an possession dispute over his first mission, the Russian social community VKontakte.
However his departure from Russia was not an abrupt exile: in response to the information website Vazhnye Istorii, citing leaked border knowledge, he visited the nation greater than 50 instances between 2015 and 2021.
Telegram has positioned itself as a “impartial” various to American platforms, which have been criticized for his or her business exploitation of their customers’ private knowledge.
It has additionally performed a key function since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, actively utilized by politicians and commentators on each side of the warfare.
The Paris prosecutor mentioned French judicial authorities had been knowledgeable of Telegram’s “virtually whole lack of response” to the authorities’ requests and had opened a primary investigation in February 2024.
