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CNN
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The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France over the weekend has cast a shadow over the popular messaging service and its enigmatic founder. into the spotlight.
Russian-born Durov was arrested on Saturday at Paris Bourget airport on an arrest warrant related to Telegram’s lack of moderation.
Those charges include allegations that his platform helped fraudsters, money launderers, drug traffickers and people who spread content involving the sexual exploitation of children, French prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement on Monday. Beccuau added that Durov is accused of refusing to hand over “information or documents” related to the investigation.
The app also has have recently come under fire due to their use by terrorist groups and right-wing extremists.
Durov’s arrest sparked a debate about freedom of expression and responsibility for it for illegal content on the Internet. Russian politician Maria Butina – who was convicted of espionage in the US and deported to Russia in 2019 – called the CEO a “political prisoner” on Sunday, according to Reuters.
But French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement published on X on Monday that Durov’s arrest was “in no way a political decision”.
“I am reading false information about France following the arrest of Pavel Durov,” Macron said, adding that the arrest “came in the context of an ongoing judicial investigation.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Monday that Durov’s arrest was part of a broader investigation into a series of criminal activities on Telegram dating back to July 8. In total, there are 12 individual charges.
Telegram said it complies with EU law and that Durov has “nothing to hide.”
Here’s what you need to know about Telegram and why it has come under criticism.
Telegram is an encrypted messaging service launched in 2013 by Durov and his brother Nikolai. According to a post by Durov last month, the app now has more than 950 million users, making it one of the most used messaging platforms in the world.
In many countries, the platform has become an essential service, used for everything from everyday chatting and sending photos and documents to disseminating government announcements.
Because conversations in the app are encrypted, law enforcement agencies – and Telegram itself – have little control over what users post.
This privacy has made Telegram an important communication tool in countries where freedom of expression is restricted, such as Russia, Iran and India. The app is also popular in Ukraine, where it has become an important tool for spreading news about the war and warnings about air strikes.
But it is precisely these safeguards that have also made the service popular with drug traffickers, money launderers and extremists, including white supremacists and terrorist groups like ISIS.
Telegram allows up to 200,000 users to join individual chat groups, where false claims can spread quickly. Other encrypted services, such as Meta’s WhatsApp, have much smaller group sizes.
In March, Durov told the Financial Times that the app was “close to profitability” after introducing advertising and subscription offerings two years ago. He added that the company was considering an IPO.
Beyond its use by criminals and extremists, Telegram has also come under criticism for its role in major conflicts and political events, as well as its refusal to abandon its commitment to encryption.
Moscow tried to ban Telegram in 2018 because it refused to provide Russian intelligence services with decryption keys that would allow state authorities to read private messages. Durov vowed to defy the ban, which was eventually lifted in 2020.
Telegram became popular among Trump supporters and followers of the Q-Anon conspiracy theory in 2021 after mainstream social media platforms like Facebook began cracking down on false claims that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was rigged, sparking concern among law enforcement officials who fears that disinformation could lead to more violence in the real world.
Last fall, in light of Hamas’ war with Israel, Telegram restricted access to several channels that were closely linked to or operated by Hamas.
And earlier this month, the messaging app began actively removing calls for violence from the platform after reports emerged that the app was being used to organize far-right, anti-immigrant riots in the United Kingdom.
“Telegram moderators are actively monitoring the situation and removing channels and posts that contain calls for violence,” Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn said in a statement at the time. “Calls for violence are expressly prohibited in Telegram’s terms of service.”
Telegram moderators proactively monitor public parts of the platform and rely on AI tools and user reports to remove content that violates the rules, Vaughn said.
In its statement on Sunday, Telegram said: “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform.”
Durov, Telegram’s billionaire founder and CEO, was born in the Soviet Union in 1984. He said he showed a talent for math and programming from a young age.
In 2006, as a 21-year-old fresh out of university, Durov launched the social media site Vkontakte (VK). As the app grew in popularity, he became colloquially known as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia.”
But when protesters began using VK to organize demonstrations in Kyiv against Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2013, the Kremlin demanded that the website hand over private data of Ukrainian users, according to Durov.
Durov refused, resigned as VK CEO, sold his shares in the company and left Russia in 2014. “I don’t want to take orders from anyone,” Durov said of his decision to quit the company and leave his home country.
Durov also started Telegram in 2013. He now lives in Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered, and is also a French citizen.
In addition to running Telegram, Durov has become something of an online influencer, sharing pictures of his travels around the world (and often shirtless photos) on Instagram. He also claims to have fathered more than 100 children thanks to sperm donations he has made over the past 15 years.
—Joshua Berlinger, Camille Knight and Anna Chernova contributed to this report.
