'Telegram founder Pavel Durov (39) arrested in France'
August 25, 2024

'Telegram founder Pavel Durov (39) arrested in France'
Telegram founder Pavel Durov (39) was arrested Saturday evening at Le Bourget airport in Paris. He was arrested after the French authorities had issued an arrest warrant. The French justice believes that Telegram provides space for crime such as drug trafficking, money laundering, child pornography and crypto fraud. Telegram is also said to be insufficiently cooperating with the investigative services.


Private jet
Durov, founder and CEO of messaging service Telegram, was arrested at Paris airport when he landed there with his private jet, according to French media. He is said to have traveled from Azerbaijan and was arrested after landing. His bodyguard and assistant are also said to have been on the plane.

Russian Durov lives in Dubai. He also has French nationality.

Insufficient moderation
According to the arrest warrant, Telegram did too little to combat illegal activities on the social media network and Durov is held responsible for this. According to the French police, Telegram has become the favorite platform for organized crime in recent years.

Durov knew he was wanted by French authorities, but why he traveled to the country despite this is unclear.

Telegram is owned by the Russian Durov brothers, who also operate the popular Russian VKontakte. Telegram's headquarters are in Dubai.

Poor communication
Outgoing Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yesilgöz said late last year that it is impossible for the Dutch police to communicate with chat service Telegram. The company does not respond or 'minimally' to requests for information by the Dutch police, Yesilgöz says in response to parliamentary questions.

Other information suggests that police and intelligence agencies only gain access to Telegram users by hacking into their phones.

https://www.crimesite.nl/telegram-oprichter-pavel-durov-39-opgepakt-in-frankrijk/

This is true, at least here, almost everyone involved in organized crime is using telegram.

He's worth 15.5 billion USD according to Forbes. Number 122 on the list.

The crazy life and times of Pavel Durov, Russia’s Elon Musk
Is the arrested Telegram CEO a free speech martyr or a shadowy criminal?

https://www.politico.eu/article/pavel-durov-russia-telegram-ceo-facebook-elon-musk-tech/

Telegram to provide police numbers and IP addresses
Chat service Telegram has updated its privacy policy, saying that phone numbers and IP addresses of users suspected of "criminal activity" will be shared with law enforcement agencies. This will happen "if Telegram receives a valid warrant from the relevant judicial authorities confirming that you are a suspect."

This is now stated in the privacy policy of the Russian-registered and internationally very successful encryption service.

In the Netherlands, police have repeatedly found that drugs and weapons have been traded on Telegram channels . The Minister of Justice has complained in the past about Telegram's lack of cooperation with the police.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov was recently arrested by French authorities last month . He has been provisionally released after four days in custody. He promised this week to change Telegram's privacy policy.

Durov also said that Telegram's search function will be monitored by a team of moderators using AI software and problematic content will be banned.

Telegram has about a billion users worldwide and uses end-to-end encryption that is difficult for law enforcement to crack without physical access to a phone. A tiny minority of those use the service for criminal activities.