Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov arrested in France, faces possible indictment
File photo of Pavel Durov.
Telegram chief executivePavel Durov was arrested by the French police at theLe Bourget airport near Paris for alleged offences related to his popular messaging app, the news agency AFP reported on Sunday (Aug 25) citing sources.
Durov was travelling aboard his private jet andwas arrested as thepolice investigation alleges that a lack of moderators on Telegram allows criminal activity, like fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, and the promotion of terrorism, to go on undeterred on the messaging app.
Durov, 39, was arrested on Saturday evening and is expected to appear in court later on Sunday. He had arrived in France from Azerbaijan, one of the sources told AFP.Durov faces possible indictment, according to French media.
The other source said thatFrance's OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, issued an arrest warrant for Durov in a preliminary investigation into alleged offences includingfraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, and promotion of terrorism.
Durov is accused of failing to take action to curb the criminal use of his platform.
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The reactions
Reacting to Durov's arrest, X owner Elon Musk said, "It's 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme."
A report by the news agency Reuters said that severalRussian bloggers called for protests at French embassies throughout the world at noon on Sunday.
Russia's representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, and several other Russian politicians was quick on Sunday to accuse France of acting as a dictatorship - the same criticism that Moscow faced when putting demands on Durov in 2014 and trying to ban Telegram in 2018.
The Russian foreign ministry said its embassy in Paris was clarifying the situation around Durov and called on Western non-governmental organisations to demand his release.
Telegram and the Ukraine war
Russian-born Durov founded Telegram with his brother in 2013. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VKontakte social media platform, which he sold.
After the Ukraine war began in late February 2022,Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered - and sometimes graphic and misleading - content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding it.
(With inputs from agencies)