The arrest of Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov is part of a broader investigation into the social media app that is accused of allowing criminal activity to run rampant while failing to reliably cooperate with law enforcement, French prosecutors said.
Durov, 39, is suspected of being complicit in global drug trafficking, pedophilia and fraud allegedly conducted on Telegram because the company is unwilling to work with police, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
“At the heart of the case is the absence of moderation and cooperation on the part of the platform,” Jean-Michel Bernigaud, secretary general of France’s Ofmin police agency added in a statement.
The investigation comes after Telegram has drawn criticism from many governments around the globe for allowing militants and organized criminals to discreetly communicate on the app, which emphasizes user privacy.
Durov fled Russia after reportedly refusing to turn over the encryption keys to the app and Telegram was banned in the country in 2018 — though allowed again in 2021.
It is now widely used by both Russian officials and by the Russian military on its offensive in Ukraine, according to the BBC.
French officials said Durov will be held for at least two more days, but the exact charges being levied against him remain unclear — much to the dismay of Durov’s supporters who have slammed the arrest as an attack on freedom of speech.
Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy for the Foundation For Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), said Durov’s arrest was troubling because it suggested he was being punished for failing to police Telegram “more aggressively.”
“Making platform owners legally responsible for what their users say pressures platforms to crack down on even lawful speech to minimize risk,” Terr told The Post.
“This underscores the importance of the constitutional and statutory protections we enjoy in the United States that allow online platforms to host the free exchange of ideas without being prosecuted or sued out of existence,” he added.
Christopher Terry, an internet policy expert and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, told The Post that while police could have a valid case against Telegram over the alleged crimes planned through its services, the arrest could cause shockwaves for free speech around the world.
“Arresting media people/operators always represents some level of threat to free speech or press, even in places that don’t have a First Amendment or its protections,” Terry said.
X owner Elon Musk was among the first wave of people defending Durov, writing “#FreePavel” while sharing a clip of Durov praising X for heralding innovation and free speech.
French President Emmanuel Macron stressed on Monday that Durov’s arrest was “not a political decision at all.”
“France is more than anything attached to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation and to the spirit of enterprise,” Macron said in a post on X reacting to Durov’s arrest.
Durov has maintained that Telegram is a neutral social media platform and that he fled Russia to avoid taking orders from Moscow, according to his interview earlier this year with Tucker Carlson.
Telegram has more than 900 million users worldwide, with Forbes estimating Durov’s worth at about $15.5 billion.
Telegram said in a statement Sunday that it was “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
