Telegram founder Pavel Durov accused of criminal activity on Telegram
The Russian-born billionaire faces six charges related to various illegal activities on the messaging platform, from cybercrime to sharing child sexual abuse material.
French authorities have officially charged Russian-born tech billionaire Pavel Durov with lack of moderation and lax attitude toward criminal activity on his Telegram messaging platform.
Despite the charges, Durov has been released on bail of 5 million euros.
However, Durov is expected to remain in France and must report to police twice a week.
According to an August 26 statement from the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, Durov was initially detained over the weekend following a judicial investigation on July 8 based on the following 12 charges:
- Complicity: web domain of an online platform to allow an illegal transaction in an organized group.
- Refuse to communicate, at the request of the competent authorities, information or documents necessary for the execution and operation of interceptions permitted by law.
- Complicity – possession of pornographic images of minors.
- Complicity – distribute, offer or make available pornographic images of minors, in an organized group.
- Complicity – acquiring, transporting, possessing, offering or selling narcotic substances.
- Complicity: offering, selling or making available, without legitimate reason, equipment, tools, programs or data designed or adapted to access and damage the operation of an automated data processing system.
- Complicity – organized fraud.
- Criminal association with a view to committing a crime or an infraction punishable by five or more years in prison.
- Laundering the proceeds of crimes and organized group crimes.
- Provision of cryptology services with the aim of guaranteeing confidentiality without certified declaration.
- Provide a cryptology tool that not only guarantees authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration.
- Import a cryptology tool that ensures authentication or integrity tracking without prior declaration.
Now, according to europe politicsSix charges have been officially filed against Durov, including “running an online platform ‘to enable an illegal transaction in an organized group’ and refusing to cooperate with law enforcement authorities.”
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office said that Telegram “appears in multiple cases involving various crimes (crimes of child sexual abuse, trafficking, online hate)” and that “Telegram’s almost complete lack of response to legal requests” was a serious concern. .
Durov, 39, has dual French and Emirati citizenship. He lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based and is believed to be worth $9 billion.
Following Durov’s arrest, Telegram issued a statement denouncing Durov’s arrest.
“Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and frequently travels around Europe,” a Telegram spokesperson said on August 25.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform, or its owner, is responsible for the abuse of that platform.”
