According to French media, the deprivation of liberty is part of the execution of a house search. This is in connection with an investigation into how Telegram moderated its content.
According to French authorities, through its lack of moderation and its unwillingness to cooperate with the judicial system, the company can be considered complicit in drug sales, human trafficking, child pornography crimes and fraud, according to French TV channel TF1.
– On his platform, he has allowed countless crimes to be committed, says an anonymous investigator to the channel.
The answer: Absurd accusations
A day later, on Sunday evening, Telegram commented on the arrest. According to them, Pavel Durov has “nothing to hide”.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for misuse of the platform,” they write according to Reuters and continue:
“Telegram complies with EU laws, including the Digital Services Act. Its moderation is in line with the industry standard and is continuously improving.”
Many users in Asia
Telegram has close to a billion users and is popular above all in Asia, mainly in Russia and India. Users include everything from anonymous accounts to authorities and journalists. SVT Nyheter has previously reported that the platform is used by Swedish gang criminals to recruit young people.