CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov is prohibited from leaving France while his case is pending after being accused of several offenses there. French authorities accused the millionaire founder of the well-known messaging service Telegram and mandated that he deposit a five million euro bail. He has to come in to the police twice a week while the investigation is going on.
The charges were described in full by Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau in a statement. Durov is charged with a number of offenses, including “web-mastering an online platform to enable illegal transactions in an organized group.” The maximum punishment for this offense is ten years in prison and a fine of five hundred euros.
Telegram’s unwillingness to assist law enforcement in criminal investigations is a major additional accusation. Beccuau claims that Telegram ignored requests for help in situations involving crimes against kids, drug offenses, and hate speech over the internet. An investigation into Telegram’s leadership’s possible criminal responsibility has resulted from their lack of cooperation.
Additional accusations include distributing child pornography, participating in drug trafficking, and breaking French cryptology regulations. Companies who provide cryptology services in France are required by law to file the necessary statements to ANSSI, the nation’s cybersecurity organization. Durov is charged with breaking these legal obligations.
Although it may be turned on for one-on-one talks, Telegram, which is well-known for combining social networking with private messaging capabilities, does not by default offer end-to-end encryption. Telegram responded to Durov’s detention by saying that it complies with legal requirements and rejecting the idea that platform owners have to be responsible for the conduct of their users. In a related incident, Durov’s brother Nikolai, who co-founded Telegram with him, is allegedly the subject of an arrest warrant issued by French authorities.
