The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has sparked questions about the messaging app’s future — and the precedent prosecution could set. On August 24th, French authorities took Durov into custody near Paris as part of an “ongoing judicial investigation” into criminal activity on the platform, which is known for its lax moderation policies.
A French judge later charged Durov with enabling illicit transactions, complicity in the distribution of child sexual abuse material, and refusing to cooperate with authorities, among other offenses. Although he has been released under judicial supervision, Durov has been barred from leaving France while the authorities continue their investigation.
If you want to keep up with the news surrounding Durov’s arrest, you can follow along below.
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Telegram’s CEO has taken a hands-off approach for years — now his luck might have run out
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France on Saturday took the tech world by surprise. The 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire was detained after touching down at an airport outside of Paris in his private plane. And with scant detail available, observers wondered what the unprecedented action meant for free speech, encryption, and the risks of running a platform that could be used for crime.
On Monday, French officials revealed that Durov is being questioned as part of a wide-ranging criminal investigation surrounding crimes that regularly happen on Telegram. While some of the accusations could still raise red flags, many seem to concern serious offenses — like child abuse and terrorism — that Durov would reasonably have been aware of. But many questions remain unanswered, including how worried other tech executives should be.
Read Article >- Telegram complied with 14 requests from US authorities this year.
In its first transparency report, Telegram says it fulfilled more than a dozen requests for IP addresses or phone numbers that affected 108 users, as spotted by 404 Media.
Following the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in August, the messaging platform announced it would comply with legal requests for user data and also changed its tone on moderation.
Telegram will now hand over your phone number and IP if you’re a criminal suspect
Telegram will now turn over a user’s phone number and IP address if it receives a request from authorities, according to its just-updated privacy policy:
The adjustment is the latest change Telegram has made following the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov last month, who French authorities charged with enabling illegal activity on the platform.
Read Article >Telegram disables ‘misused’ features as CEO faces criminal charges
In a post on Telegram Friday, founder and CEO Pavel Durov set out a new approach for the app and announced it’s disabled some “outdated” features. The first changes to the app following his arrest in France last month affect its built-in blog posts and a “People Nearby” location-based feature.
The changes come as Durov attempts to reverse Telegram’s reputation as a hotspot for criminal activity that came as a result of lax moderation policies. In late August, French authorities arrested and charged Durov with enabling legal transactions and complicity in the distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Read Article >Telegram changes its tone on moderating private chats after CEO’s arrest
Telegram has quietly removed language from its FAQ page saying private chats were protected and that “we do not process any requests related to them.” The change comes nearly two weeks after its CEO, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France for allegedly allowing “criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.”
In response, Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn says the app’s source code has not changed. “Private chats are still private too – although you could always report a new incoming chat to moderators by using Block > Report. Anyone can check Telegram’s open source code and see there were no changes,” writes Vaughn in a statement shared with The Verge.
Read Article >Telegram CEO breaks silence after arrest
Twelve days after he was arrested in France, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has broken his silence with a 600-word statement on his Telegram account that blames “growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”
French authorities had charged Durov with enabling various forms of criminal activity on Telegram, including an unnamed person’s distribution of child sexual abuse material on the platform. An unnamed statement from Telegram at the time of his arrest said Durov had “nothing to hide.”
Read Article >The problem with Telegram
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France last weekend, and a few days later was charged with a number of offenses connected to criminal activity on Telegram. There’s a lot about this story we don’t yet know, but this week’s events seem to signal a shift in how countries and governments plan to hold executives accountable for what happens on their platforms.
On this episode of The Vergecast, we try and make sense of what happened here — and what might happen next. We talk about what makes Telegram different from WhatsApp or Facebook, the ways Durov set up and operated the company that may have made this confrontation inevitable, and whether this will have a ripple effect on the rest of the social internet. Or even the rest of the internet as a whole.
Read Article >Telegram CEO charged in French criminal investigation
A French investigative judge has charged Telegram CEO Pavel Durov with enabling illegal transactions among other alleged offenses, according to reports from NBC News and Le Monde. Durov had been arrested Saturday as part of an investigation into child sexual abuse material and other criminal activity on Telegram.
The charges were later detailed in a press release posted to the official LinkedIn account of the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Read Article >- Telegram CEO Pavel Durov faces court questioning in France.
Durov was released from police custody and transferred to court ahead of a possible indictment, reports The Associated Press.
French authorities arrested Durov Saturday in a preliminary investigation of the relationship between Telegram’s moderation practices and the distribution of CSAM and other criminal content by another unnamed person on the platform.
- French prosecutors explain why they arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.
While Durov hasn’t been charged, a statement from the French government says his recent arrest is tied to an investigation into a “person unnamed” on charges of being complicit in distributing CSAM, drugs, and hacking tools, along with refusing to cooperate with law enforcement and other crimes.
Telegram has said its CEO and founder has “nothing to hide.”
Telegram says CEO has ‘nothing to hide’ after being arrested in France
Telegram says its CEO and founder Pavel Durov has “nothing to hide” after he was arrested by French authorities outside of Paris.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” the company says in an unnamed statement posted to its official channel in the Telegram app on Sunday. French officials have confirmed to multiple outlets that Durov was arrested as part of a police investigation into criminal activity taking place on the social network.
Read Article >French authorities arrest Telegram’s CEO
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is reportedly in custody after being arrested near Paris Saturday evening as he was departing his private jet. The billionaire was apprehended on a warrant related to a preliminary investigation, writes Reuters.
French authorities believe that the platform’s lack of moderation has “allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.” Durov will go before a judge tonight and could be indicted as early as Sunday, according to sources for TF1 TV (which we read using Google Translate), one of two French outlets cited by Reuters.
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