Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder of the popular Telegram app, was arrested by French police on August 24. Durov was traveling from Baku to Paris in his private jet. After arriving in Paris, he was arrested outside Le Bourget Airport. French media reports that an arrest warrant has already been issued for Pavel Durov by French authorities. But what is the reason for Pavel Durov’s arrest? Let us explain.
Why was Pavel Durov arrested?
According to French media reports, Pavel Durov is being investigated for crimes related to the Telegram messaging app. French authorities accuse Telegram of being widely used for drug trafficking, sharing of child pornography, organized crime, promoting terrorism, fraud and cyberbullying.
French authorities claim that Telegram has failed to apply sufficient moderation and has not taken any action against the criminal use of its platform. One of the French investigators added: “Enough of Telegram’s impunity.”
A recent report from BOOM live highlights the widespread use of Telegram for the sale of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in India. Last year, Telegram More than 2,000 groups have been banned which hosted child abuse videos, after the Indian government issued a notice to Telegram.
In light of these allegations, Telegram said in a statement: “Telegram complies with EU laws, including the Digital Services Act. Its moderation is in line with industry standards and is constantly improving. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuses of this platform. We expect a speedy resolution of this situation.”
Interestingly, Telegram raises the point that a platform cannot be held liable for abuses of its platform. In India, the “safe harbor” protection afforded to intermediaries like Telegram can be withdrawn if platforms fail to enforce the country’s applicable laws.
However, a French magistrate has now extended the detention Durov, which can last up to 96 hours.
The world reacts to the arrest of Pavel Durov
Right after the arrest, Elon Musk has given his support Durov’s X post saying: “POV: It’s 2030 in Europe, and you’re being executed for liking a meme.” Since Elon Musk took control of Twitter (now X), the platform has increasingly become a breeding ground for misinformation and adult posts, due to a lack of moderation.
In fact, in our testing, we found that X’s Grok image generator is able to generate harmful images without hindrance. Its Grok 2.0 model is almost unhindered and has no security protections. Elon Musk calls “moderation” is a propaganda word for “censorship.”
Additionally, Edward Snowden, currently exiled in Russia, said: “The arrest of @Durov is an attack on the fundamental human rights of speech and association.”
The arrest of @Durov “This is an attack on fundamental human rights, namely freedom of expression and association. I am surprised and deeply saddened that Macron would stoop to the point of taking hostages to gain access to private communications. This demeans not only France, but the entire world.” – Edward Snowden (@Snowden) August 25, 2024
The Russian embassy in Paris also reacted strongly to Pavel Durov’s arrest. It claims that France does not cooperate with the embassy and does not allow access to Durov. For your information, Pavel Durov is no longer a Russian citizen. He has dual French and Emirati citizenship and currently lives in Dubai. The Telegram application is also registered and based in Dubai.
Is Telegram end-to-end encrypted?
In light of Pavel Durov’s arrest, a discussion has erupted over Telegram’s encryption model. In our WhatsApp vs Telegram vs Signal comparison, we explained that Telegram is unencrypted end-to-end (E2E)by default. You must use the “Secret Chat” feature in the Telegram app for end-to-end encryption. This means that by default chats on Telegram are less secure than WhatsApp and Signal.
However, the E2E encryption used by Telegram is not the industry standard Signal Protocol. Telegram has designed its own internal protocol MTProto for end-to-end encryption. This is a closed-source encryption protocol, and security researchers suggest users opt for a widely recognized protocol over a proprietary one.
