Telegram’s Founder Reportedly Arrested in France Over Moderation Coverage

Telegram’s cofounder Pavel Durov was arrested on Saturday night time after at an airport a number of miles north of Paris, in keeping with French information shops BFMTV and TF1. Each shops report that the billionaire CEO had arrived from Azerbaijan by personal jet, and that he was the topic of a French search warrant over the app’s lack of moderators, and its alleged use in drug trafficking, cash laundering, and the distribution of kid abuse materials.

Thus far, neither French authorities nor Durov have put out statements on the arrest. Nonetheless, Telegram commented on X, previously Twitter, that “Durov has nothing to cover,” whereas Russian officials reportedly condemned the detainment as an assault on free speech. X proprietor Elon Musk additionally posted about moderation and free speech following the experiences.

A publish on Telegram’s X account mentioned the corporate “abides by EU legal guidelines” and its moderation efforts are “inside business requirements.” The publish continued, “It’s absurd to assert {that a} platform or its proprietor are liable for abuse of that platform.”

The corporate added that it’s “awaiting a immediate decision.”

Durov was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and is a naturalized citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates. Earlier than Telegram, the tech govt cofounded VKontakte, Russia’s reply to Fb. Durov reportedly offered his stake in VKontakte and left Russia in 2014 over state censorship demands. Telegram is at the moment headquartered in Dubai, and Durov said in April that the app has practically a billion customers.

Durov is 39 years previous and price an estimated $15.5 billion, in keeping with Forbes. In July, the tech govt mentioned he was a sperm donor, had “over 100 organic children,” and deliberate to “open-source [his] DNA.”

Telegram has reportedly censored content material prior to now, together with Hamas channels and “public calls for violence” following the attack on the U.S. Capitol. But, governments steadily conflict with Telegram over its stance on content material moderation and privateness, and its use by protestors. Russia attempted to block Telegram after the agency refused to hand over encryption keys in 2018. A yr later, Durov claimed China had launched cyber assaults in opposition to the service to suppress protests in Hong Kong. Cuba blocked the app in 2021 amid protests over the federal government’s response to Covid-19, and two years later, a Spanish courtroom briefly blocked Telegram entry following copyright complaints from native media teams.