Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov speaks throughout a press convention in 2017.
Tatan Syuflana/AP
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Tatan Syuflana/AP
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov continues to be detained in France in reference to a legal investigation into the messaging app’s failure to cooperate with regulation enforcement requests, authorities in Paris introduced on Monday.
Durov, who resides principally in Dubai, was arrested Saturday at Le Bourget Airport north of Paris after he disembarked his personal jet, which was touring from Azerbaijan.
Whereas French media broke the story of Durov’s arrest over the weekend, prosecutors in Paris on Monday confirmed the stories and added some element.
Prosecutors say they launched an investigation final month right into a “particular person unnamed” for violations together with the unfold of kid pornography, peddling unlawful medication and failure to cooperate with authorities in a probe into organized fraud.
Whether or not Durov is being questioned as the principle goal of the investigation, or as having performed an confederate position, will not be recognized.
“On the coronary heart of the case is the dearth of moderation and cooperation of the platform,” stated Jean-Michel Bernigaud, a high police official in France wrote on LinkedIn. “Significantly within the combat in opposition to youngster pornography.”
It’s unclear if Durov is being held on suspicion of any of those crimes, however beneath French regulation authorities say they will preserve the tech billionaire detained for questioning till Wednesday, or for 96 hours.
In a press release, Telegram has responded to the detainment saying it’s “absurd” to carry Durov answerable for individuals who abuse the platform, noting that the app abides by all European Union legal guidelines.
Durov, 39, based Telegram in 2013 as a safe technique to talk exterior the reaches of authoritarian regimes. The app has soared in recognition, amassing greater than 900 million customers, changing into one of many most-used messaging companies on the earth.
One of many hallmarks of Telegram is its hands-off method to content material moderation.
That has drawn criticism from researchers who’ve lengthy condemned Telegram for not taking motion in opposition to teams, referred to as “channels” on the app, which have served as recruiting hubs for terrorist organizations, together with ISIS and Hamas.
Former Fb govt Brian Fishman who research counter-terrorism wrote on Threads that Telegram has ignored regulation enforcement requests analyzing terror teams and youngster pornography for years.
“Telegram is one other stage,” Fishman wrote. “It’s a special method completely.”
To French regulation enforcement and web researchers, the questioning of Durov is about Telegram’s alleged refusal to adjust to authorities requests. But to free speech champions on-line, detaining a tech govt over content material that seems on a platform is a type of censoring free speech.
Elon Musk mused on X that the longer term may embrace “being executed for liking a meme,” and self-proclaimed whistleblower Edward Snowden described Durov’s arrest an assault on “the fundamental human rights of speech and affiliation.” Writing on X, Snowden stated the Durov being detained was akin to “taking hostages as a memes for having access to personal communications.”
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron defended the nation’s arrest and questioning of Durov.
“The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil passed off as a part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It’s on no account a political resolution. It’s as much as the judges to rule on the matter,” Macron wrote on X.
