Billionaire Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, faces explosive charges in France for enabling a hotbed of illegal activities, from child pornography to drug trafficking, and other crimes through the app, sparking debate over tech accountability.
Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of telegram, has been prosecuted in France for facilitating various criminal activities on the messaging app. The billionaire failed to control the distribution of pornographic images of children, drug trafficking, and other illegal activities on Telegram, the court ruled.
Telegram has been linked to the spread of conspiracy theory groups, child sexual abuse material and terrorism. Reportedly, ISIS has used the platform as a communication channel for nearly a decade. These groups don’t use the app simply for its perceived secrecy, but for its “anything goes” approach to moderation.
During the recent UK riots, calls to violence proliferated on the platform despite violating the privacy rules.
In a statement, French prosecutor Laure Beccuau mentioned that the inquiry focuses on potential cooperation in a variety of crimes, including maintaining an internet platform that permitted “dissemination in an organised group of images of minors in child pornography,” drug trafficking, and fraud.
Charges against the 39-year-old suggest a pattern of significant non-cooperation with authorities. The allegations include a refusal to assist agencies in conducting legal wiretaps on suspects. Furthermore, he is accused of facilitating gangs and organized criminal networks in carrying out illegal transactions through the app.
Pavel Durov was arrested on Saturday, August 24, at Le Bourget Airport near Paris as part of an ongoing investigation into organized crime. He was subsequently released on bail of €5 million (₹46.7 crore), with the condition that he remain in France and report to a police station twice a week. Preliminary charges related to the investigation have also been filed.
In a statement published on Telegram on Sunday, the Dubai-based company claimed that the accusations were “absurd” while asserting that Durov has “nothing to hide.”
Durov’s detention is not a surprising case of government overreach but rather the inevitable outcome of years of escalating tension between his lenient oversight approach and increasing concerns about Telegram’s role in facilitating criminal activities.
The case has sparked a debate over where free speech ends and law enforcement begins. It also highlights the strained relationship between governments and Telegram, which has almost 1 billion users, while serving as a warning shot to tech titans who refuse to cooperate with authorities over alleged illicit activity on their services.
In addition to the ongoing investigation, Durov is also being investigated for alleged “serious acts of violence” against one of his children while he and his former partner, the child’s mother, were in Paris, according to a source. The child’s mother had also filed a separate complaint against Durov in Switzerland last year.
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