PublishedAugust 25, 2024, 23:14
FranceExtended police custody for Telegram’s boss
The Franco-Russian head of the Telegram messaging service, Pavel Durov, arrested in France on Saturday, saw his police custody extended on Sunday evening.
Illustrative image.
AFP
The police custody of Telegram’s boss, Pavel Durov, was extended on Sunday evening, the day after his arrest at a Paris airport, following a search warrant issued against him by French investigators targeting various offenses related to his encrypted messaging service.
Accompanied by his bodyguard and assistant who follow him everywhere, the 39-year-old Franco-Russian billionaire was arrested Saturday evening in the terminal of Bourget, north of Paris, said a source close to the case to AFP.
The founder of Telegram was arriving from Baku and was supposed to spend at least the evening in Paris where he had planned to have dinner, added a source close to the investigation.
According to another source close to the investigation, the Parisian investigating judge in charge of this judicial inquiry, which notably targets acts committed in an organized group, has extended his police custody on Sunday evening. It could last a maximum of 96 hours. At the end of this period, Pavel Durov could be released or brought before this magistrate in view of a possible indictment.
The office responsible for combating violence against minors (Ofmin) had issued a search warrant against Pavel Durov for offenses ranging from fraud to drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, incitement to terrorism, and fraud, explained one of the sources close to the case.
Lack of moderation
Since a date that has not been specified, a judicial inquiry has been opened by the cyber department (J3) of the Junalco (national jurisdiction against organized crime), according to another source close to the case.
The investigations have been entrusted to the National Cyber Unit (UNC) of the national gendarmerie and to the Onaf, the national anti-fraud office under the customs, where the police custody is taking place, according to two sources close to the case.
The justice department accuses Pavel Durov of failing to act against the illicit uses of his messaging service by its users, notably due to a lack of moderation and collaboration with investigators.
“Enough with Telegram’s impunity,” one of the investigators expressed, surprised that the billionaire, knowing he was wanted in France, still decided to come to Paris. “Perhaps due to a feeling of impunity,” one of the sources close to the case speculated.
“Nothing to hide”
“Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and he travels frequently in Europe,” Telegram assured on its own channel on Sunday evening. “It is absurd to say that a platform or its owner are responsible for the abuses” reported on said platform, the company added. “Telegram complies with European laws, including the Digital Services Regulation, and its moderation efforts are within industry standards,” it further stated.
The online messaging service launched in 2013 by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai, on which communications can be encrypted end-to-end and which is headquartered in Dubai, has positioned itself counter to American platforms, which are criticized for their mercantile exploitation of personal data.
Telegram has notably committed to never revealing information about its users.
“#FreePavel”
The arrest of Pavel Durov has sparked numerous international reactions. “#FreePavel,” published on X the head of the platform, Elon Musk, before posting a new message in French stating “Liberty. Liberty! Liberty?”.
In Russia, where Telegram is one of the most used social networks with channels that can have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova stated that “the Russian embassy in Paris immediately went to work, as is customary” in the case of the detention of Russian citizens abroad.
She also recalled that many international NGOs condemned in 2018 the decision of a Russian court to block Telegram, a decision that was never fully implemented. “Do you think that this time they will appeal, demand Durov’s release, or will they remain silent?” she asked on her Telegram page.
Pavel Durov recounted in April, in a rare video interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, that he had the idea to launch an encrypted messaging service after facing pressure from Russian authorities during his time at VK, a social network he created in his home country before selling it and leaving Russia in 2014.
He mentioned that he then tried to settle in Berlin, London, Singapore, and San Francisco before choosing Dubai, which he praised for its business environment and “neutrality.” “I think we are doing good work with Telegram, with 900 million users that will probably exceed a billion monthly active users within a year,” he stated.
In the Gulf emirate, the messaging service Telegram has positioned itself outside of state moderation rules, at a time when the European Union and the United States are pressuring large platforms to remove illegal content.
(AFP)