Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the popular messaging app Telegram, was arrested in Paris over the weekend on charges that his platform was being used for illegal activities such as drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images.
Russian-born Durov spent much of his childhood in Italy and is a citizen of France, Russia, the Caribbean island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the United Arab Emirates. He was detained at Paris-Le Bourget airport in France on Saturday (August 24, 2024) after landing from Azerbaijan.
In a statement posted on its platform, Telegram said it complies with EU laws and that its content moderation is “within industry standards and is constantly improving.” The company added that Durov has nothing to hide and that he frequently travels to Europe.
Here are some details about the Telegram app, which has been at the center of Durov’s arrest.
Telegram is an app that allows one-on-one conversations, group chats and larger “channels” that let people broadcast messages to subscribers. Unlike rivals such as Meta’s WhatsApp, Telegram’s group chats allow up to 200,000 people, compared to a maximum of 1,024 people for WhatsApp. Experts have raised concerns that misinformation spreads easily in group chats of this size.
Telegram offers encryption for its communications, but — contrary to a popular misconception — the feature is not turned on by default. Users must turn on the option to encrypt their chats. It also doesn’t work with group chats. This is in contrast to rival Signal and Facebook Messenger, where chats are end-to-end encrypted by default.
File photo of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov. | Photo Credit: Reuters
Telegram says it has more than 950 million active users. It is widely used as a messaging tool in France, including by some officials in the presidential palace and the ministry investigating Durov. But French investigators have also found that the app has been used by Islamic extremists and drug traffickers.
Telegram was launched in 2013 by Durov and his brother Nikolai. According to Telegram, Pavel Durov supports the app “financially and ideologically while Nikolai’s input is technical.”
Before Telegram, Durov founded Russia’s largest social network VKontakte. The company came under pressure during the Russian government’s crackdown following massive pro-democracy protests in Moscow in late 2011 and 2012. Durov said government officials had demanded that VKontakte remove online communities of Russian opposition activists. It later asked the platform to hand over personal data of users who took part in the 2013 uprising in Ukraine that eventually ousted a pro-Kremlin president.
But Durov sold his stake in VKontakte in 2014 after pressure from Russian authorities. He also left the country. Today, Telegram is based in Dubai, which Durov called in an April interview with conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson “the best place for a neutral platform like ours if we want to make sure we can protect our users’ privacy and freedom of expression.”
French media have reported that Durov was detained on an arrest warrant alleging his platform has been used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other crimes. As of Monday afternoon, he had not been charged, and few details about the investigation were available.
French media reported on Monday that a French investigating judge extended Durov’s detention period on Sunday night. According to French law, Durov can remain in custody for up to four days for interrogation. After that, judges will have to decide either to charge him or release him.
In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on reports of Durov’s arrest in France.
“We still don’t know what exactly Durov is being accused of,” Peskov said during his daily media conference call on Monday. “We haven’t heard any official statement on that matter.”
“If charges are announced, we will wait until then,” Peskov said.
Russian government officials have expressed outrage over Durov’s detention, with some calling it politically motivated and evidence of the West’s double standards on freedom of expression. The outrage has raised eyebrows among Kremlin critics: Russian authorities themselves tried to block Telegram in 2018 but failed, lifting the ban in 2020.
On the other hand, X’s billionaire owner Elon Musk, who has described himself as an “absolutist of free speech,” has spoken out in support of Durov and posted “#freePavel” after the arrest.
In a statement posted on its platform after his arrest, Telegram said it complies with EU laws, and that its moderation is “within industry standards and is constantly improving.”
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform,” Telegram’s post said. “Nearly a billion users around the world use Telegram as a means of communication and a source of important information. We look forward to a quick resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.”
Western governments have frequently criticised Telegram for its lack of content regulation, which experts say makes the messaging platform more likely to be used for money laundering, drug trafficking and the sharing of content involving the sexual exploitation of minors.
David Thiel, a Stanford University researcher who has investigated the use of online platforms for child exploitation at the Internet Observatory, said Telegram is “less secure (and) more lax in terms of policy and detection of illegal content” than other messaging platforms.
In addition, Telegram “seems to be fundamentally unresponsive to law enforcement,” Thiel said, adding that messaging service WhatsApp “submitted more than 1.3 million CyberTipline reports in 2023 (and) Telegram submitted none.”
In 2022, Germany issued a fine of 5.125 million euros ($5 million) against the operators of Telegram for noncompliance with German law. The Federal Justice Office said Telegram FZ-LLC had not established any legitimate method for reporting illegal content or named any entity in Germany to receive official communications.
Both are required under German laws regulating large online platforms.
Last year, Brazil temporarily suspended Telegram for failing to submit data on neo-Nazi activity related to a police investigation into a school shooting in November.
Telegram said in response to the arrests that it complies with EU laws and that its content moderation is “within industry standards and is constantly improving.”