Telegram Founder Charged with Wide Range of Crimes in France
Pavel Durov, Telegram's founder, was arrested in France for failing to prevent illegal activities. Released on bail, he faces scrutiny over tech companies' responsibilities and potential legal precedents for executives.
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Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, was arrested in France and charged with multiple crimes related to the platform's failure to prevent illegal activities, including child sexual abuse, drug trafficking, and fraud. This marks a significant legal action against a tech executive for user behavior on a messaging platform. Durov was detained after arriving from Azerbaijan and has been released on bail of approximately $5.5 million, but he is barred from leaving France and must report to police twice a week. The case has sparked discussions about the responsibilities of tech companies in moderating content and the implications for free speech. French authorities have criticized Telegram for its lack of cooperation in criminal investigations, leading to a broader inquiry into the potential criminal liability of its executives. Durov's approach to moderation, which emphasizes minimal oversight, contrasts with the practices of larger platforms like Meta and Google. The outcome of this case could influence how other social networks manage content to avoid legal repercussions. Durov's situation is seen as a potential precedent that could affect tech executives globally, particularly in authoritarian regimes.
- Pavel Durov has been charged in France for failing to prevent illegal activities on Telegram.
- He was released on bail but is required to report to police regularly.
- The case raises questions about tech companies' responsibilities for user-generated content.
- Durov's minimal moderation approach contrasts with larger platforms' practices.
- The indictment could set a precedent for legal actions against tech executives worldwide.
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- Many argue that Durov's arrest is due to his alleged complicity in illegal activities on Telegram, contrasting it with platforms like Signal that prioritize user privacy.
- Some commenters express concern about the implications of holding platform executives liable for crimes committed on their services, fearing a slippery slope that could extend to ISPs and phone companies.
- There are discussions about the potential dangers of sharing user information with authorities, citing past scandals involving French intelligence.
- Several users highlight the ongoing debate about the legal responsibilities of platform hosts, referencing previous discussions around piracy and election-related content moderation.
- Some commenters question the fairness of holding Durov accountable while suggesting that similar logic could implicate other tech leaders, like the CEO of Microsoft.
20 commentsRecently have been a bunch of scandals where french intelligence officers where involved in murder plots.
- There is "Haurus", a french intelligence officer who sold personal information on the darknet, in one case he sold personal information including the address of a drug dealer. Something that is believed to have helped in his murdered by a "competitor".
- There is the murder of racing driver "Laurent Pasquali" who is presumed to have been killed by a french intelligence officer. The plot involved over 20 people with several of them being french intelligence officers. In fact they got his personal information and address to plan the murder plot through the french intelligence database.
You can Google all this, it is true.
The main takeaway here is that Durov is not being arrested strictly because his platform contains illegal material. He is being arrested because (allegedly)
- he is aware of the illegal material, and - he refuses to cooperate with law enforcement to remove that material.
So the French authorities are charging him with being complicit in a lot of this stuff.
Platforms like Signal can get away with this because they are properly E2E encrypted, and cannot identify illegal content. Telegram, on the other hand, has decryption keys for the messages and media sent in group chats, meaning they can identify and remove illegal content if they choose to.
This is a very slippery slope.
I don't see a problem with requiring a company to cooperate with a court order to release data. However if a company does not have this data (because it's encrypted) it should not be liable or be required to collect such data.
Telegram has legal obligations and we all know they haven't fulfilled them-you can easily verify that on your own: you don't need to be a government agency to do that - open telegram and use the search function, hell even the auto suggestions lead you to a ton of illegal stuff.
- Durov is, according to him, living in exile outside of Russia since 2014 - due to Russian gov persecution.
- Since his "exile" - he has travelled 50-60 times to Russia https://www.reddit.com/r/Telegram/comments/1f2pgg3/pavel_dur...
- Most Russian billionaires that live in exile and are persecuted by the RU gov fall from windows (or something tall) quite often. Durov has been living lavishly though.
- Russia is trying to protect him now that he is being charged.
i.e. a lot of odd and contradicting moments.
Telegram is used by Russia, terror groups, and so on.
It's always funny to hear people talk about free speech in that situation.
Didn’t we have months and months of this discussion around the last US presidential election? Haven’t we had this discussion years ago when piracy was rampant on ”surface web” sites?
Businesses have always had legal requirements based on the nature of their trade.
Edit: the argument about Durov not ”trying to do anything” after the French requests don't seem that relevant as it aligns with “I tried” excuse of a poor student’s missing homework, i.e. trying isn’t enough - crimes are either stopped or they aren’t.
Edit2: ha @ downvotes w/o any opinions.
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