French authorities have arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov at Paris airport, French media report

NICE, France (AP) – The founder and CEO of messaging service Telegram was arrested at Paris airport on an arrest warrant. He is accused of using his platform for money laundering, drug trafficking and other crimes, French media reported Sunday.

Pavel Durov, a citizen with dual French and Russian nationality, was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget airport on Saturday evening after landing in France from Azerbaijan, broadcasters LCI and TF1 reported.

Investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, which is affiliated with the French customs authority, informed 39-year-old Durov that he would be taken into police custody, the broadcasters reported.

Durov’s representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.

When asked by The Associated Press on Sunday, French prosecutors declined to comment on Durov’s arrest, in line with regulations while the investigation is ongoing.

French media reported that the arrest warrant against Durov was issued by France at the request of a special unit of the French Interior Ministry responsible for investigating crimes against minors, including sexual exploitation on the internet, such as the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse content and the initiation of sexual acts.

Telegram was founded by Durov and his brother in the wake of the Russian government’s crackdown on mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow in late 2011 and 2012.

The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to crack down on digital space, issuing regulations that forced internet providers to block websites and mobile phone operators to store call recordings and messages that could be passed on to intelligence agencies.

In an increasingly repressive environment, Telegram’s privacy-friendly rhetoric offered Russians a convenient way to communicate and exchange messages. In 2018, Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor attempted to block Telegram for refusing to hand over encryption keys, but ultimately failed to fully restrict access to the app.

Telegram continued to be widely used, including by government institutions, and the ban was lifted two years later. In March 2024, Roskomnadzor said that Telegram was cooperating with the Russian government to some extent and had removed more than 256,000 posts with banned content at Roskomnadzor’s request.

Telegram also remains a popular news source in Ukraine, where it is used by media and authorities to exchange information about the war and to transmit warnings about rocket and air strikes.

In a statement posted on its platform, Telegram said it complies with EU laws, including the Digital Services Act, and that its moderation “meets industry standards and is constantly improving.”

Durov, the company added, “has nothing to hide and travels frequently throughout Europe.”

“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform,” Telegram’s post said. “Nearly a billion users around the world use Telegram as a means of communication and as a source of important information. We await a swift resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.”

A French judicial official said Durov could appear in court later on Sunday to decide whether he will remain in custody. The official was not authorized to be named publicly while the investigation is ongoing.

“If the person concerned is brought before a judge today, this will only happen in the context of a possible extension of his police custody – a decision that must be made and communicated by an investigating judge,” said the officer.

Western governments often criticize Telegram for its lack of content moderation on the messaging service. Experts say this means the messaging platform can potentially be misused for money laundering and drug trafficking, as well as for sharing content linked to the sexual exploitation of minors.

Compared to other messaging platforms, Telegram is “less secure (and) more lax in terms of policies and detection of illegal content,” said David Thiel, a Stanford University researcher who has studied the use of online platforms to exploit children at the Internet Observatory.

In addition, Telegram appears to be “fundamentally unresponsive to law enforcement requests,” Thiel said, adding that messaging service WhatsApp “filed over 1.3 million CyberTipline reports in 2023 (and) Telegram did not file a single one.”

In 2022, Germany imposed fines of 5.125 million euros ($5 million) on Telegram’s operators for failing to comply with German laws. The Federal Office of Justice stated that Telegram FZ-LLC had neither created a lawful way to report illegal content nor designated an entity in Germany to receive official notifications.

Both are required under German law regulating large online platforms.

Last year, Brazil temporarily blocked Telegram because the company failed to release data on neo-Nazi activities in connection with a police investigation into school shootings in November.

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of social media site X, who has described himself in the past as a “champion of absolute freedom of speech,” posted “#freePavel” in support of Durov after the arrest.

Russian government officials expressed outrage at Durov’s arrest, with some pointing to the West’s double standards regarding freedom of expression.

“In 2018, a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists and others, condemned the Russian court’s decision to block Telegram,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

“Do you think they will appeal to Paris this time and demand Durov’s release?” Zakharova asked in a post on her personal Telegram account.

Officials at the Russian embassy in Paris have requested access to Durov, Zakharova told Russian state news channel RIA Novosti, but added that French authorities considered Durov’s French citizenship to be his most important.

In a statement to AP earlier this month, Telegram said it was actively combating abuse of its platform.

“Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring and user reports to remove content that violates Telegram’s terms of service. Millions of pieces of harmful content are removed every day,” the company said.

___

Associated Press writers Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, Matt OBrien in Providence, Rhode Island, and Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.