The founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram is currently facing a very difficult situation in Paris. Pavel Durov was recently arrested at Le Bourget airport in Paris. This arrest is due to issues related to his app. This detention badly impacted his career and also he faced a longer detention period. French authorities decided to arrest him for at least 96 hours. During this period they question him continuously.
Russia strongly criticized this action of France and said this nation is not cooperating. Furthermore, in order to save Pal Durov, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has come
Although Durov holds a French passport along with other nationalities, he was just arriving in Paris from Baku and was planning to have dinner in the city. This situation represents a major challenge for Durov and has attracted considerable attention. It’s clear that his legal troubles are making headlines and impacting his career significantly.
Most of the time the CEO of the Telegram app travels with a bodyguard and personal assistant and is facing many difficulties in France. An arrest warrant is issued for him by the French authorities. This is due to an investigation into several major allegations. Authorities said he is involved in many crimes such as fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and promoting terrorism. The French office responsible for preventing violence against minors says Durov hasn’t done enough to stop illegal activities on his platform.
Many officials in the company said, there is nothing to hide and Durov often travels throughout Europe. They also said that the platform follows all European laws and it is not good to say that the platform owner is responsible for how people use the app or misuse it. Official stance is that they don’t break any laws and follow industry standards for moderation.
Back in 2013, when Durov created Telegram. At that time, one of his projects, VKontakte, faced ownership issues, which he blamed on the Kremlin. However, Telegram gained popularity because it was easy to use for sharing and watching videos. But many critics also said that Plat is also involved in many illegal activities such as violent content is also found here. It includes extreme images, misinformation, and services for buying drugs.
The Russian embassy tried to contact Pavel Durove but according to them France is not give permission to access Telegram’s owner. The Russian foreign ministry wanted to help Durov because he has Russian citizenship, but since he also has French citizenship, France sees him as mainly French.
The owner of Tesla and the social media platform Twitter, Elon Musk also stands in favor of Durove. He tweeted on X #FreePavel and asked in French if there’s freedom.
France’s human rights violation
The situation is also criticized by many Russians such as Edward Snowden. After seeking asylum he strongly said that Paris is violating human rights and the case of Durove is a clear example of it.
A source close to Durov was surprised he went to France despite a warrant against him. They thought he might have felt safe from the consequences.
Le Bourget airport, now mostly for private planes, is famous for events like Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev’s defection to the West in 1961.
Why did he select Dubai for his business?
Telegram, an encrypted messaging app based in Dubai, promotes itself as a secure option compared to US platforms. Durov said he started his app to protect privacy after facing pressure from the Russian government while working at VK.
Before choosing Dubai he tries to settle his business in many countries such as Berlin, London, Singapore, and San Francisco. After that, he selected Dubai for its business-friendly environment and neutrality.
According to Durov, people like this platform because it provides total independence, privacy and freedom. At that time, many people used this platform, with approximately 900 million active users.
It is based in the United Arab Emirates and doesn’t follow strict moderation laws. These rules are used by Western countries to control illegal content.
Telegram allows groups with up to 200,000 members, which has led to criticism. Some say this makes it easier for false information and harmful content, like neo-Nazi, paedophilic, conspiratorial, and terrorist material, to spread.
WhatsApp, a competitor, set worldwide limits on message forwarding in 2019 to stop the spread of false information, especially after incidents in India where misinformation led to lynchings.
