Telegram has issued a firm defense of its CEO Pavel Durov, following his arrest at an airport near Paris on Saturday. The messaging app founder was detained under a warrant related to Telegram’s moderation practices, with authorities accusing Durov of failing to curb criminal activities facilitated on the platform. According to officials, the investigation focuses on Telegram’s alleged lack of cooperation in addressing issues such as drug trafficking, child sexual exploitation, and fraud.
In a statement, Telegram rejected the accusations, claiming its moderation is in line with industry standards and continuously improving. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform,” the company said, adding that Telegram abides by European Union regulations, including the Digital Services Act, which promotes online safety and accountability.
The arrest has sent shockwaves through the tech world, with Durov’s detention extended to 96 hours, according to judicial sources quoted by AFP. Durov, who frequently travels through Europe, holds dual citizenship in the United Arab Emirates and France. He has long been a controversial figure, especially in his home country of Russia, where Telegram was banned in 2018 after he refused to provide user data to Russian authorities—a ban that was lifted in 2021.
Telegram is widely popular in Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet states, positioning itself as one of the world’s leading messaging platforms with nearly a billion users globally. Critics, however, argue that the app’s relatively lenient moderation makes it a hotbed for the spread of misinformation and extremist content. Telegram allows groups of up to 200,000 members, a feature that has drawn scrutiny for facilitating far-right, neo-Nazi, and terror-related content.
The Russian government has reacted to Durov’s arrest with concern, with its foreign ministry expressing frustration over French authorities’ lack of cooperation. Russia’s embassy in France said it was working to clarify the situation and ensure Durov’s legal rights were protected. Despite not receiving a formal request from Durov’s representatives, the embassy is actively involved in the case.
Prominent figures like American whistleblower Edward Snowden and X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk have weighed in on the situation. Snowden described the arrest as “an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association,” while Musk posted multiple messages on X, one of which included the hashtag #freepavel, expressing concerns over the implications for freedom of expression in Europe.
Critics of Telegram argue that the platform’s moderation practices remain significantly weaker than those of other social media giants, such as Facebook and WhatsApp. In the UK, Telegram recently came under fire for hosting far-right channels linked to violent disorder in major cities earlier this month. While Telegram did remove some groups, cybersecurity experts argue that the app’s overall efforts to combat extremist and illegal content remain insufficient.
For more details on this developing story, read the full article at BBC News.