NICE, France — The founder and CEO of the messaging service Telegram was detained at a Paris airport on an arrest warrant alleging his platform has been used for cash laundering, drug trafficking and different offenses, French media reported Sunday.
Pavel Durov, a twin citizen of France and Russia, was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday night after touchdown in France from Azerbaijan, in keeping with broadcasters LCI and TF1.
Investigators from the Nationwide Anti-Fraud Workplace, hooked up to the French customs division, notified Durov, 39, that he was being positioned in police custody, the broadcasters stated.
Durov’s representatives couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.
French prosecutors declined to touch upon Durov’s arrest when contacted by The Related Press on Sunday, in keeping with rules throughout an ongoing investigation.
French media reported that the warrant for Durov was issued by France on the request of the particular unit on the nation’s inside ministry accountable for investigating crimes in opposition to minors. These embody on-line sexual exploitation, akin to possession and distribution of kid sexual abuse content material and grooming for sexual functions.
Telegram was based by Durov and his brother within the wake of the Russian authorities’s crackdown after mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow on the finish of 2011 and 2012.
The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital house, adopting rules that pressured web suppliers to dam web sites and cellphone operators to retailer name information and messages that may very well be shared with safety providers.
Within the more and more repressive atmosphere, Telegram and its pro-privacy rhetoric provided a handy method for Russians to speak and share information. In 2018, Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor moved to dam Telegram over its refusal handy over encryption keys, however finally failed to totally limit entry to the app.
Telegram continued to be broadly used — together with by authorities establishments — and the ban was dropped two years later. In March 2024, Roskomnadzor stated that Telegram was working with the Russian authorities to a sure extent and had eliminated greater than 256,000 posts with prohibited content material at Roskomnadzor’s request.
Telegram additionally continues to be a well-liked supply of stories in Ukraine, the place each media shops and officers use it to share info on the battle, and ship missile and air raid alerts.
In a press release posted on its platform, Telegram stated it abides by EU legal guidelines together with the digital providers act, and its moderation is “inside trade requirements and continuously bettering.”
Durov, the corporate added, “has nothing to cover and travels often in Europe.”
“It’s absurd to say {that a} platform or its proprietor are answerable for abuse of that platform,” Telegram’s publish stated. “Nearly a billion customers globally use Telegram as technique of communication and as a supply of significant info. We’re awaiting a immediate decision of this case. Telegram is with you all.”
A French judicial official recommended that Durov might seem earlier than a choose later Sunday to find out whether or not he’ll stay in custody. The official wasn’t licensed to be named publicly throughout an ongoing investigation.
“If the individual involved is to be introduced earlier than a choose at this time, it is just within the context of the attainable extension of his police custody measure — a choice that should be taken and notified by an investigating choose,” the official stated.
Western governments have usually criticized Telegram for lack of content material moderating on the messaging service, which specialists say opens up the messaging platform for potential use in cash laundering, drug trafficking and permitting the sharing of content material linked to sexual exploitation of minors.
In comparison with different messaging platforms, Telegram is “much less safe (and) extra lax when it comes to coverage and detection of unlawful content material,” stated David Thiel, a Stanford College researcher, who has investigated using on-line platforms for little one exploitation, at its Web Observatory.
As well as, Telegram “seems mainly unresponsive to regulation enforcement,” Thiel stated, including that messaging service WhatsApp “submitted over 1.3 million CyberTipline experiences in 2023 (and) Telegram submits none.”
In 2022, Germany issued fines of 5.125 million euros ($5 million) in opposition to the operators of Telegram for failing to adjust to German regulation. The Federal Workplace of Justice stated that Telegram FZ-LLC hasn’t established a lawful method for reporting unlawful content material or named an entity in Germany to obtain official communication.
Each are required underneath German legal guidelines that regulate massive on-line platforms.
Final 12 months, Brazil quickly suspended Telegram over its failure to give up knowledge on neo-Nazi exercise associated to a police inquiry into college shootings in November.
Elon Musk, the billionaire proprietor of social media web site X who’s known as himself a “free speech absolutist” up to now, posted ”#freePavel” in help of Durov following the arrest.
Russian authorities officers expressed outrage at Durov’s arrest, with some highlighting what they stated was the West’s double normal on freedom of speech.
“In 2018, a bunch of 26 NGOs, together with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty Worldwide, Freedom Home, Reporters With out Borders, the Committee to Defend Journalists, and others, condemned the Russian court docket’s choice to dam Telegram,” Russian International Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated.
“Do you suppose this time they’ll enchantment to Paris and demand Durov’s launch?” Zakharova stated in a publish on her private Telegram account.
Officers on the Russian Embassy in Paris had requested entry to Durov, Zakharova informed Russian state information outlet RIA Novosti, however she added that French authorities view Durov’s French citizenship as his main one.
In a press release to the AP earlier this month, Telegram stated that it actively combats misuse of its platform.
“Moderators use a mixture of proactive monitoring and consumer experiences to be able to take away content material that breaches Telegram’s phrases of service. Every day, thousands and thousands of items of dangerous content material are eliminated,” the corporate stated.
___
Related Press writers Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, Matt OBrien in Windfall, Rhode Island, and Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California contributed to this report.
