On Wednesday, French prosecutors charged the CEO of the widely-used messaging platform Telegram with complicity in distributing child sexual abuse material, supporting organized crime, and refusing to comply with lawful orders to provide information to law enforcement.
Following four days of questioning after his arrest at an airport near Paris, prosecutors brought multiple charges against Pavel Durov, requiring him to post a bond of 5 million euros ($5.6 million) and prohibiting him from leaving France.
The case involving the 39-year-old billionaire marks an unprecedented test of governmental authority over multinational tech companies that operate under diverse legal frameworks worldwide. Telegram, which Durov oversees, is distinctive for being based in the United Arab Emirates, a neutral Middle Eastern country, and for its policy of not sharing user information with any authorities.
Durov, who holds both French and UAE citizenship, left Russia in 2014, citing a conflict with the authorities over demands to hand over user data from the social network he founded, VKontakte.
While some, including X owner Elon Musk, have criticized the investigation as a threat to free speech, child protection advocates argue that Telegram allows more illegal activities, including the sharing of abusive images, than any other major platform. In most countries, such as France and the United States, laws do not shield platforms from being prosecuted for illegal content.
With approximately 950 million users globally, Telegram is particularly popular in Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. It is used for private messaging, public posts, and group chats. Only one-on-one conversations can be encrypted, and even then, only if users activate that option, implying that the company could potentially disclose other communications to governments if it chose to do so.
Prosecutors stated that Parisian authorities initiated a preliminary investigation in February 2024, prompted by frustrations from the National Office for Minors and other agencies over unanswered legal requests for information regarding Telegram users.
On July 8, a formal judicial investigation was launched, led by national cybercrime detectives and anti-fraud officials. Among the charges Durov faces is operating a platform that facilitates illicit transactions for organized crime, which carries a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Telegram did not immediately release a statement or answer questions. Following its founder’s arrest, the company stated on X that it complies with European laws, maintains moderation practices consistent with industry standards, and argued that “It is absurd to hold a platform or its owner responsible for misuse of that platform.” Durov’s attorney, David-Olivier Kaminski, echoed these sentiments to reporters in Paris after the charges were announced, as reported by Le Monde.
In France, magistrates have the authority to charge individuals and place them under formal investigation, which signals that judicial authorities are examining whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed with the case. However, such investigations do not always lead to trial and can sometimes take years to complete.
Globally, law enforcement agencies have scrutinized Telegram because it has become a preferred tool for child predators, terrorist groups, drug traffickers, and other criminals, some of whom openly advertise and recruit on the platform.
The app has also been used to spread propaganda and hate speech banned in certain countries, leading some national governments to restrict access or demand that Telegram remove offensive content. For instance, Brazil temporarily banned Telegram in 2023 amid probes into neo-Nazi groups allegedly using the app to orchestrate school attacks.
Telegram has also attracted the attention of various intelligence agencies, who are keen to uncover the identities behind accounts that seem to collaborate with governments and other influential entities. Telegram has not made its encryption methods available for public scrutiny, and it remains unclear whether intelligence agencies have managed to hack into the platform remotely.
In Russia, government officials and public figures have voiced strong disapproval of Durov’s detention, advising citizens to delete old messages to prevent them from being accessed by French authorities and their allies. Some Russian officials claimed that the arrest was merely a pretext for obtaining digital keys that could grant access to all messages, except those protected by end-to-end encryption.
Some European intelligence experts have suggested that Durov might be cooperating with Russian authorities, citing his actions in blocking accounts associated with domestic opposition groups as evidence.
Durov’s arrest marks the highest-profile case involving a tech executive over the activities of a digital platform. However, this is not an isolated incident; Brazil briefly imprisoned Meta executives for the company’s failure to provide access to fully encrypted WhatsApp messages, India has threatened X employees with arrest, and Google and Apple representatives were warned of jail time by Russian officials until they agreed to remove a voting app supported by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated this week that Durov’s arrest was not politically motivated. “France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship,” Macron posted on X. “This commitment will remain unchanged.”
Reporting contributions were made by Catherine Belton and Ellen Francis.
