Pavel Durov who’s the owner of a social media platform has been charged by the French prosecutors for allowing several criminal acts on the messaging platform. The CEO of the app had failed to crack down on the spread of the sexual images of children, drug tracking and other illegal activities which were being carried out as per the court.
Not under custody:
Even though the honcho of Telegram has been placed under formal investigation, he hasn’t been remanded to custody but has been placed under judicial supervision and he has been asked to pay $5.6 m as a deposit. The owner of telegram is a Russian born billionaire who is also a French national. He has also to be present at the police station, twice in a week and he is not allowed to leave the country, though he has been granted bail on the same condition.
When a person is placed in Formal Investigation in France, it doesn’t mean that the person is guilty of that one particular crime or it gets to the trial but it implies that the Judges consider that the case can proceed with an investigation if there is something sufficient.
The statement from the prosecutors:
In the statement which was released on Wednesday, the French prosecutors have said that Mr. Durov has been put under the formal investigation over the alleged offences. The prosecutors said that the billionaire has been charged with a refusal to share documents which are being asked by the authorities which is also the dissemination of the photo of minor children in ponorgraphy and also included serious charges like drug trafficking and money laundering.
The statement also said that he has been evasive with the authorities and he didn’t, there were serious allegations on him that he didn’t help the agencies to run the legal wire-traps on the suspects involved. There have been accusations on him of empowering the gangs and the organized criminal syndicate to carry out the illegal transaction on the app.
The statement from his lawyer:
David Oliver Kaminski who’s the lawyer of Pavel Durov said that the social media App has complied with every European Digital rules and regulations and they have moderated with the same standards as other social networks. The lawyer also went out to say that it was absurd to say that his client could be involved in those criminal and illegal acts which do not bother him directly or indirectly.
The Arrest:
The Chief Executive Officer of Telegram was arrested by the Paris Police at an airport which is located in the North of Paris. He was detained by the authorities after his private jet had landed at the Le Bourget airport.
As per the authorities he was arrested on the basis of the warrant for an offense in the context of the app. He is accused of failing to crack down on the criminal and misuse of the messaging app Telegram and the probe is also about the lack of moderation in the app.
The battle of Free Speech:
The arrest of Telegram CEO has reignited the debate on whether the Freedom of Expression is being taken upon. Elon Musk the current owner of X (formerly Twitter) had condemned the arrest of the Telegram boss, he argued that the word ‘moderation’ is a ‘propaganda word’ for censorship. He also demanded for the release of Mr. Durov.
About Telegram:
Telegram is one of the most prominent social media messaging platforms which was founded in 2013 and is popular in Russia, Ukraine and other countries which were part of the erstwhile Soviet Union and Iran. Even though the app was banned in Russia in 2018 as Durov refused to hand-over data, the ban was revoked in 2021.
