Telegram CEO’s arrest: French police have authorised further detention of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov in relation to charges that its messaging service assists in crime including money laundering and drug dealing through planning and coordination.
An investigating magistrate has ruled that Durov, who is 39 years old, should be held beyond Sunday night, according to the AFP news agency citing an unidentified man involved in the probe.
Durov can be detained without being charged for 96 hours when in actual sense he must be charged or released from police custody.
According to local sources, Durov has been flying in his private jet from Azerbaijan and according to French arrest warrant he was to be arrested during preliminary investigation.
Russian-born Durov is being investigated by France’s OFMIN, an agency that deals with violence against minors, in connection with offences that included fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism as reported by the AFP quoting officials who preferred to remain anonymous.
The Franco-Russian billionaire himself is said to have not done enough to prevent his app from being used for unlawful purpose.
Some of the information is coming from TF1 TV and BFM TV which claim that the probe is based on the alleged absence of moderation on the part of the platform.
Telegram stated that Durov ‘has nothing to hide’ and he often travels in Europe.
“Telegram adheres to EU legislation and complies with the legislation specifically the Digital Services Act — it blocks messages, which is typical for most platforms,” Telegram said in a statement. “It is preposterous that someone pin the blame on a platform or the owner of the platform for misuse of the platform. ”
The Russian embassy in France has insisted on the right of consular notification to Durov and demanded the guarantee of his rights as TASS informed.
They added that in this case France has remained largely indifferent, or in the words of the embassy – avoided engagement regarding the issue with Durov. Saying that the Russian diplomats had established communication with Durov’s legal counsel, the embassy said.
Telegram in Russia-Ukraine War
With almost 1 billion users, Telegram was founded by Durov and his brother in the year 2013 in Russia.
Durov left Russia in 2014 for finding a location for his company where it can be established, he tried in Berlin, Singapore, and San Francisco and at last, he decided to make a base in Dubai.
Starting from February 2022, since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Telegram became the primary conduit of unadulterated content, and at times, the gory details of war.
Russian and Ukrainian leaders use the app often and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has used it.
Many countries around the globe such as France have raised some questions about the application in the security of their data.
According to the reaction of Durov’s arrest, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said that France was acting as a totalitarian society.
“Some naive persons still do not grasp that whether they occupy more or less public position in this world it is rather unsafe to travel to countries that are gradually becoming much more totalitarian,” Ulyanov posted on X.
This weekend several Russian bloggers have urged people to stage protest outside French embassy in every country.
Ben Aris bne IntelliNews editor in chief said to AJ Durov is also unpopular in Russia that he did not allow the Kremlin to get the e-keys which would enable them to read personal Telegrams.
Russia first started with blocking telegram in early 2018 following an order directing telegram to make user data from the application’s encrypted messaging system avyale to the state security agencies.
“Durov was in Azerbaijan where Putin recently was… He is most likely pushing Putin to prevent the continuation of the block of Telegram in the country,” Aris said.
Meanwhile, tech mogul and billionaire Elon Musk also criticised Durov’s arrest, writing on X: “It’s the year 2030 in Europe, you are receiving the death penalty for accidentally liking a meme.”
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