This Sunday, August 25, Pavel Durov will appear before a court in France after his arrest at the Paris airport. detention is linked to alleged crimes related to the use from the popular messaging platform Telegramjudicial sources told AFP.
There are also speculations that the Paris investigating judge could decide to extend Durov’s detention on Sunday afternoon, according to several sources.
Accusations against Durov
The French Office for the Prevention of Violence against Minors (OFMIN) issued an arrest warrant for Durov as part of a preliminary investigation covering multiple crimes, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime and promotion of terrorismAn investigator in the case expressed surprise at Durov’s arrival in Paris, given his wanted status. “Enough of Telegram’s impunity,” the researcher stated.
This application allows the creation of groups of up to 200,000 membersand for this reason it has been criticized by facilitate the spread of false information and the dissemination of neo-Nazi content, pedophiles, conspiracy theorists y terrorists.
Tensions between Russia and France
Russia has accused France of “refusing to cooperate” after French police arrested the 39-year-old Franco-Russian billionaire at Le Bourget airport, north of Paris, on Saturday evening, August 24. Russian authorities said that They requested access to Durov without receiving a response from the French authorities.
“We demand an immediate explanation of the reasons for this detention and request that his rights be respected and that he be granted consular access. So far, theThe French side refuses to cooperate”the Russian embassy in Paris said in a statement carried by the Ria Novosti agency.
Russian Foreign Minister Maria Zakharova revealed that Moscow had requested consular access to Durov, but that, due to his French nationality, “France is considered to be its primary nationality.”
#UPDATE Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov is expected to appear in court Sunday after being arrested by French police at an airport near Paris for alleged offences related to his popular messaging app, sources told AFP. https://t.co/IQ0sNOm4Ee
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 25, 2024
Entrepreneur Elon Musk, owner of the social network X, has supported Durov with the hashtag #FreePavel (#PavelLibre) and has posted in French “Liberté Liberté! Liberté?” (Freedom Freedom! Freedom?).
Freedom
Freedom!
Freedom?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024
Telegram and its stance on privacy
This instant messaging application has positioned itself as an alternative American messaging platforms, often criticised for commercial exploitation of personal data. Part of their privacy stance is to never reveal information about their users.
In an interview with US host Tucker Carlson in April, Durov explained that the idea to launch an encrypted messaging app came after he came under pressure from the Russian government while working at VK, a social network he created before selling it and leaving Russia in 2014.
Durov, who moved Telegram headquarters in Dubai praising the city’s “neutrality”told Carlson that people “love the independence, the privacy and the freedom, there are many reasons why someone would switch to Telegram.”
In that interview, Durov mentioned that The app had more than 900 million active users..
By establishing its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates, Telegram has shielded itself from content moderation laws, amid growing pressure from Western countries for major platforms to remove illegal content.
In contrast, WhatsAppa competitor of Telegram, imposed global limits on message forwarding in 2019 to combat the spread of false information which had led to lynchings in India.
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