Telegram’s CEO and founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France while departing from a private jet. TF1 has confirmed that Durov’s arrest took place on Saturday.
There has been a lot of speculation regarding Pavel Durov’s arrest, especially in online spaces. However, French authorities have reported the lack of moderation, which ultimately led to the messaging platform turning a blind eye to the illegal activities within the app.
Pavel Durov and the reasons for this arrest
Pavel Durov will be facing charges over enabling criminal activities on Telegram and some of these crimes include, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, cyberbullying and CSAM (child sexual abuse material).
Durov has been resisting pressure and orders from governments globally in the name of free speech. Such governments have been applying pressure on the Telegram CEO to moderate content and disclose data. Due to his continued residence against censorship, Pavel Durov has been championed as a free speech defender.
The Russian-born CEO previously fled from his home country after declining the government’s order to disclose information about protest leaders from Ukraine from his social network, Vkontakte. After feeling Russia, Durov settled down in Dubai which is where Telegram runs from.
Telegram has issued a statement declaring that the platform abides by the laws of the European Union. The platform has marked the claim that an owner of a platform is responsible for the happenings within the app as ‘absurd’. Telegram is thus awaiting a resolution to the ongoing situation.
French President, Emmanuel Macron has also made a few statements to curb the spread of false information on the matter. Macron says that Pavel Durov’s arrest was not politically motivated. Instead, he claims the arrest is part of an ‘ongoing judicial investigation’
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