Telegram CEO Going To Face France Charges In Criminal Probe

Telegram CEO and founder, Pavel Durov, is going to face France charges against criminal activity on the app. A criminal probe is launched against the CEO who is now banned from leaving France.

Pavel Durov, 39, is under formal investigation in France and would remain in custody which is placed by the French judiciary. He has to pay a fine of $5.6 million.

Telegram Chief Executive Officer is a Russian-born businessman who currently lives in France. During the ongoing investigation, he has to show up at a French police station twice a week. He is not allowed to leave the country till the matters are resolved.

Reason for Telegram CEO detention

The reason for Mr Durov’s detention is the first catch on his arrival at Le Bourget Airport under the charges of offenses on the app. He was stopped by the police in the north of Paris last Saturday.

The allegations summing up to become France charges against the Telegram CEO were mentioned in a statement released on Wednesday. The Paris prosecutors pointed them out as:

• Illicit transactions are formally organized by a gang over Telegram
• The CEO’s refusal to communicate with the authorities over the matter
• Systematic criminal distribution of sexual images of children over the app

In France, it does not necessarily mean that a detention would lead to a trial. However, a formal investigation does guarantee that the matter is taken seriously and would be proceeded with proof by the judges.

Mr Durov has not commented on the proceedings as yet. His lawyer, David-Olivier Kaminski, said that the app company complied with every rule and policy in this regard that came under the European digital regulations. The same moderations are used for the overall handling of the app, he explained.  

His lawyer clearly stated that “it was absurd” to have mentioned that his client would be involved in such criminal acts, either “directly or indirectly”.

The headquarters of Telegram Company is in Dubai and they say that their moderation policies are all in line with the industry standards.  

Telegram and its users

The issue has created a stir over social media as well as the app users. The mishandling of the app has generated an unprecedented wave of debate online. People are concerned about their freedom of speech and how far it could go when it comes to online content.

People have seen big tech CEOs facing a grilling in court over content regulation on online platforms. However, facing such charges after just having landed at the airport was new to the common public.

Tech giants defending Telegram Chief Executive Officer

Elon Musk, CEO of X, came in defense of Mr Durov. He said content regulation is a “propaganda word” for censorship. He should be released immediately, he demanded.

The founder of the controversial video-sharing app named Rumble, Chris Pavlovski stated he had vamoosed Europe after the detention of Mr Durov.

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said that France is committed to providing freedom of speech to its citizens. Still, the actions carried out on Telegram are “in no way… political”.

Social media app compliance

Even if the social media company is one of the biggest app firms in the world, they have to comply with certain rules and regulations, particularly for the region they are operating in. They could be charged with serious criminal offenses such as Telegram Chief Executive Officer for sharing child sexual images over the app. The judiciary cannot ignore this.

The groups as big as 200,000 people can see and comment on the content shared over Telegram. On the contrary, WhatsApp has a limitation of group formation of 1000 people at maximum.

Telegram does provide the option of encrypting the messages which keeps the messages private to the sender and the receiver only. However, the option needs to be switched manually by one of them as it is not activated by default.