AFP and Sputnik
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, August 29, 2024, p. 25
Paris. French justice yesterday charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov, of Russian origin, with a series of charges related to organised crime, but released him under judicial supervision and with a ban on leaving the country.
The 39-year-old billionaire, arrested on Saturday at Le Bourget airport, is accused of failing to act against the dissemination of criminal content on his encrypted messaging service.
The judges charged him with complicity in the administration of an online platform and for allowing an illicit transaction in an organized ganga crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Other charges include refusing to cooperate with authorities in wiretapping authorized by law and money laundering by an organized gang.
The magistrates are also investigating him for complicity in the distribution of child pornography images, drug trafficking, organized crime fraud and criminal association, among others.
Durov’s lawyer in France, David-Olivier Kaminski, said it was absurd to claim that Telegram or its owner were responsible for the abuses that occur on the messaging service.
Telegram complies with European laws, including the Digital Services Act, its moderation actions are in line with industry standards. It makes no sense to say that the platform or its director are responsible for the abuses that occurred in the lastKaminski told RIA Novosti.
The lawyer added that his client will soon pay the 5 million euro bail requested by the French courts as one of the conditions for his release.
Telegram, which has 900 million users, has positioned itself as an alternative to American messaging platforms, which have been criticised for their commercial exploitation of users’ personal data.
Encrypted messaging, which safeguards confidentiality, plays a key role in the context of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, and is actively used by politicians and observers on both sides.
But critics accuse Telegram of hosting content that is often illegal, from extreme sexual images to disinformation and drug-buying services.
On July 8, the French judiciary opened an investigation into complicity in organized crime on the platform and had also issued an arrest warrant against Nikolai, brother of Pavel, who co-founded Telegram in 2013.
France also decided yesterday to investigate Durov again for serious violence against one of his sons born in 2017 for events that occurred in Paris, said a source close to the case.
Durov, whose fortune is reported by the magazine Forbes estimated at $15.5 billion, also received support from the head of the X social network, Elon Musk, and the American whistleblower based in Russia, Edward Snowden.