Although many are concerned about possible repercussions following Durov’s detention, how did Telegram get to this point?
Co-founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov was arrested by French police in relation to an inquiry into possible criminal conduct on the instant messaging app. He is scheduled to stay in judicial prison until Wednesday. Durov arrived in France on a private plane from Azerbaijan, and was apprehended on Saturday, August 24, at Le Bourget Airport.
The investigation into suspected criminal activities on Telegram, including drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, distribution of materials encouraging child sexual abuse, encouragement of criminal transactions, and refusal to cooperate with law enforcement, was started on July 8 by France’s National Anti-Fraud Office, which is in charge of looking into a variety of financial crimes.
With a statement stating that it “abides by European Union laws, including the Digital Services Act,” Telegram stated, “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
Russia and the United Arab Emirates have asked for consular access to the 39-year-old tech billionaire, Durov, even though he has not yet been indicted in the case. Durov is a citizen of both nations.
Well-known individuals, including American whistleblower Edward Snowden and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, have backed Durov, while others have questioned the responsibility of digital companies like Telegram in policing material on their networks. However, French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized that his nation was “deeply committed to freedom of expression” and that Durov’s detention was “in no way a political decision.”
Digital rights and civil society organizations have responded cautiously to Durov’s arrest. According to the tenets of international law, our organization has long pushed for more platform moderation. However, this arrest puts us in a difficult situation: while we may appreciate law enforcement’s displeasure with Telegram’s loose moderation policies, does this justification warrant enacting an equivalent in a democracy like France that might have far-reaching implications beyond the Durov case? What degree of moderation does the government deem adequate? Internet Without Borders’ executive director, Julie Owono, stated in a statement.
How did Telegram get to this position?
Developed in 2013, Telegram is a messaging program similar to WhatsApp that allows users to establish or join groups with a lot of people who share material. In addition to using Telegram for group communication and scheduling, users increasingly depend on it for news updates. According to a study by The New York Times, Telegram today has over 90 crore users across nations including Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Indonesia, and India.
Over time, the platform’s popularity has apparently increased because to its lax approach to content moderation. Despite the fact that Telegram has actively removed violent and child sex abuse-related content, drug dealers, far-right extremist organizations, and terrorist organizations are increasingly using the network to distribute hazardous content.
Law enforcement officials have also voiced their displeasure with Telegram’s purported lack of assistance in removing offensive material and identifying the account holders. For example, according to an NBC article, child safety organizations from the US, UK, and Canada said that Telegram was refusing to act upon their requests to remove content on the site that involved child sexual abuse.
As per the official Telegram website, all group and individual discussions remain private between the members. We don’t handle any queries pertaining to them. It goes on to say, “We have disclosed 0 bytes of user data to third parties, including governments.”
Telegram has established a reputation for prioritizing user privacy by using encryption in chats and introducing features like message disappearance. But as other experts have noted, end-to-end encryption is not always set by default for every discussion.
According to information from virtual private network (VPN) provider Surfshark, Telegram has been blocked in over 31 countries, either permanently or temporarily.
Will Telegram be outlawed in India?
There have been repercussions from the charges related to Durov’s arrest in other nations, including India. According to a report by Financial Express, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has contacted the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to inquire as to whether any complaints on comparable infractions against Telegram are now pending. India has seen more than its fair share of frauds and security incidents involving Telegram.
According to reports, in 2023, a Telegram bot disclosed information about recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine that was kept on the government’s CoWIN database. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) found a stock-price rigging scheme on Telegram, for which the admin of the channel was charged.
