Pavel Durov, the CEO of the messaging application Telegram, was recently detained in Paris. Durov holds dual citizenship with France and Russia. Although he lived in Italy for much of his youth, he was born in Russia. Authorities took him into custody on Saturday at Paris-Le Bourget Airport after he flew from Azerbaijan.
Authorities took him into custody because they found that individuals were using Telegram for illicit activities like drug trafficking and distributing images of child sexual abuse.
The tech tycoon, Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram has created other more famous social media platforms and a cryptocurrency. He has earned multi billion dollar wealth and has been in a conflict not only in Russia but internationally.
What is Telegram?
Telegram is an application that allows one-on-one conversations; be it a group chat or large community known as “channels”. “Channel” allows people to deliver messages to their subscribers.Unlike other apps, Telegram group chats allows as many as 20,000,00 people in comparison to a maximum of 1,024 for Whatsapp. According to experts, misinformation spreads quickly and easily in these group chats since it allows so many members all together.
Unlike other messaging applications, Telegram provides end-to-end encryption for user communication, although users must activate this feature. They have to switch to that option. Moreover, group conversations remain unreachable. In contrast, other apps like Facebook Messenger and rival Signal always encrypt conversations from beginning to end.
Why was Durov Arrested?
According to the Paris investigator’s office, authorities detained Durov in France for 12 alleged criminal offenses. They held him as part of a judicial investigation that began last month. The investigators suspect him of selling images of child sexual abuse, committing fraud, trafficking drugs, assisting and facilitating planned criminal activities, and withholding records or information from investigators when required by law.
Responses
Government officials of Russia have expressed their rage to Durov’s detention. Some claims that it was politics and attracting eyes that fuelled the West’s hypocrisy on freedom of speech. This comment has caught the attention of critics of the government, especially since Russian authorities attempted to ban Telegram in 2018 but failed, ultimately lifting the ban in 2020.
The detention of Pavel Durov by the France investigators underscores the significant nature of the allegations, particularly cooperation in major criminal activities. This incident also highlights the legal hurdles he might have to face. Since his applications has been allegedly helping criminals in their crime. The investigation’s conclusion can only determine his release from the allegations.
