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▸ 05:52 PM IST, 27 August 2024
1. Why Telegram CEO was arrested?
Pavel Durov, the Co-founder & CEO of the popular messaging app Telegram was arrested in Paris on Saturday, 24 August by the French authorities.
According to a report by Reuters, the Russian-born billionaire was arrested late on Saturday at the Le Bourget airport shortly after landing on a private jet.
A French police source said that Durov was the subject of an arrest in France. Durov was arrested for a preliminary police investigation into “allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police.”
Durov was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into “allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police.”
Responding to the arrest of Durov, Telegram responded via its official X account,
“Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act – its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving.”; “Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.”; “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”; “Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information.”; “We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.” said Telegram
⚖️ Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving.
— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) August 25, 2024
✈️ Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.
😵💫 It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner…
▸ 07:21 PM IST, 28 August 2024
2. Arrest Warrants for Pavel and his Co-founder brother over Child Pornography Concern
According to a French administrative document only seen by Politico, French authorities issued arrest warrants for both Pavel and his co-founder brother Nikolai Durov on March 25. The document indicates that the French undercover investigation into Telegram began months earlier than known. The entire scene circles around a child sex abuse case for which Telegram didn’t cooperate with the French police. The arrest was made due “Telegram’s almost non-existent cooperation” says the document, and charges included “complicity in possessing, distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in an organized group.” the document adds.
The cybercrime branch of the Paris prosecutor’s office led an undercover investigation into Telegram during which a suspect discussed a case of luring underaged girls into sending “self-produced child pornography,” and then threatening to release it on social media.
According to the administrative document, the Suspect said that he had raped a young child. Telegram did not respond to the French authorities’ request to help identify the suspect.
The document also cited the use of the messaging platform “by numerous criminal groups”.
As per the investigation, there is no indication of the direct involvement of the Durov brothers in any illegal activities happening through the platform.
Besides this, a lawyer for Pavel Durov has declined to comment on the investigation.
▸ 01:02 AM IST, 31 August 2024
3. Pavel Durov is Out on Bail, Faces Preliminary Charges
Pavel Durov was released by French authorities earlier on Wednesday after four days of questioning. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, Durov is handed preliminary charges and investigative judges have ordered him to pay 5 million euros for bail and to report to a police station twice a week.
“It’s totally absurd to think that the person in charge of a social network could be implicated in criminal acts that don’t concern him, directly or indirectly.” said David-Olivier Kaminski, said in a statement to French media
The first preliminary charge against Durov of “complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group,” is a crime that can lead to sentences of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros, as per the Paris prosecutor’s office.
▸ 01:39 AM IST, 31 August 2024
4. Durov’s Arrest is a Political Move – claims Russia
Some Russian leaders called Durov’s arrest a political move showcasing the double standard of the West on freedom of speech. On the contrary, Kremlin critics say that Russian authorities themselves tried to ban Telegram in 2018 but failed, and withdrew the ban in 2020.
In response to this, French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said in a post on X that Durov’s arrest was not a political move but a part of an independent investigation.
“I have seen false information regarding France following the arrest of Pavel Durov. France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship. It will remain so.” said Macron
“In a state governed by the rule of law, freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.” he added
“The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter.” Macron concluded
Telegram in a statement said that the company is awaiting a prompt resolution,
“Telegram in a statement said “Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation,” it said
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he hoped that Durov “has all the necessary opportunities for his legal defense” and added that Moscow stands “ready to provide all necessary assistance and support” to Durov as a Russian citizen.
“But the situation is complicated by the fact that he is also a citizen of France,” Peskov stressed
It is worth noting that Pavel Durov besides Russia is also a citizen of France, the United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
5. Iran praises France for the Move
The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised France for being strict against the ones who violate governance. Notable, Telegram is still a widely used messenger app in the Islamic Republic despite being banned.
6. UAE Dialogue on Durov’s Arrest
The UAE Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that they are “closely following the case” and had asked France to provide Durov “with all the necessary consular services in an urgent manner.”
On Thursday, a UAE official said that the government is in contact with French authorities and representatives of the Telegram CEO. They added that the UAE prioritizes the welfare of its citizens, and providing assistance to them is a key priority.
As reported by Avia.pro, on Wednesday, the UAE has suspended a purchase contract of 80 warplanes from France following the arrest of Pavel Durov.
▸ 02:00 AM IST, 31 August 2024
7. No Connection Between Pavel and Putin
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a statement to the press said that the Kremlin never made any deals with the Telegram boss.
“There were no negotiations between Durov and the Kremlin,” said Peskov. “And the fact that he visited Russia, well, he is a Russian citizen, he moves freely, so naturally he visited Russia.”
“There were no deals between the Kremlin and Durov,” Peskov added
Besides this, Peskov said that Pavel Durov and Russian President Vladimir Putin never met. And that the case against Durov should not become a political persecution.
▸ 01:31 PM IST, 31 August 2024
8. India Investigates Telegram over Gambling and Extortion Concerns
As reported by MoneyControl, an Indian government official said that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is investigating the use of Telegram for criminal activities such as gambling and extortion.
“The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) (under MHA) and MeitY have been looking into P2P communications on Telegram,” said the official
The official indicated that the platform is in sync with the IT rules though, “The platform is compliant with the IT rules,” the official said, and that the company has no physical presence in India which makes it difficult for the authorities to investigate, “There is difficulty in dealing with Telegram because they have no presence in India,”
“We will examine the kind of material that we get and based on our laws, we will come to a conclusion,” the official concluded
▸ 02:46 PM IST, 31 August 2024
9. Pavel Durov’s girlfriend – The Reason Behind his Arrest?
As reported by Dailymail.co.uk, Pavel Durov’s girlfriend Yulia Vavilova was regularly uploading her pictures on Instagram while she was recently traveling with the Telegram boss across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and most recently Azerbaijan and then landing in France on August 24 where Durov was arrested. It is assumed that her consistent activity on Instagram was done with the intent of helping the French authorities track their geolocation. And she has vanished since the arrest of Pavel Durov.
Further speculations have led to a conspiracy that Vavilova is a Mossad agent on a honey-trap mission to hand over Pavel to Western intelligence agencies.
The question remains, is Durov’s girlfriend the reason behind his arrest?
About Yulia Vavilova
Also goes by the name Juli Vavilova, Yulia Vavilova is a 24-year-old Twitch streamer and influencer whose content primarily goes around cryptocurrency and video games. She sports a follower base of over 34,000 on Instagram, 7,100 on TikTok, and 10,900 on Twitch. She was residing with Durov in Dubai, UAE before the arrest.
▸ 01:55 PM IST, 03 September 2024
10. Russian Foreign Ministry Takes a Jibe at Pavel Durov
As reported by Reuters, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, in a speech to students at Moscow’s elite MGIMO university which is run by the foreign ministry, said that “Pavel Durov was too free,” and “He didn’t listen to Western advice on moderating his brainchild.” he added
The statement remarked on Pavel Durov’s careless approach to running a social media platform used by almost a billion users globally, which led to his arrest.
He signified that the French probe into Telegram is part of a larger political ploy by the West to exert power over Russia. On the contrary, the President of France Emmanuel Macron last week denied any political motive behind the detention of Pavel Durov.
Lavrov earlier denoted that Pavel’s arrest was the first of a major tech CEO that has hurled the relations between Moscow and Paris.
▸ 04:24 PM IST, 07 September 2024
11. Pavel Durov Speaks Out for the First Time Since His Arrest
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, earlier on Friday, posted a long public statement on his X account and Telegram channel to throw light on his arrest in Paris, legal proceedings, and his goal of making Telegram a better platform free of bad actors.
❤️ Thanks everyone for your support and love!
— Pavel Durov (@durov) September 6, 2024
Last month I got interviewed by police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.…
Durov began by thanking people for support, and shared the initial story of his arrest.
“Last month I got interviewed by police for 4 days after arriving in Paris. I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.”
Durov said, holding him personally responsible for illicit activities happening on Telegram is surprising for several reasons.
Firslty, “Telegram has an official representative in the EU that accepts and replies to EU requests. Its email address has been publicly available for anyone in the EU who googles “Telegram EU address for law enforcement”.”
Secondly, “The French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance. As a French citizen, I was a frequent guest at the French consulate in Dubai. A while ago, when asked, I personally helped them establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France.”
And lastly, Durov suggested that “If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself. Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach. Building technology is hard enough as it is. No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools.”
Concluding the letter, Durov shared that the sudden increase in the number of Telegram users count has made it easier for criminals to abuse the platform. And it is now his personal goal to significantly improve things with regard to moderation. He added that the event of his arrest in August will hopefully result in making Telegram and the whole social media industry safer and stronger.
▸ 05:27 PM IST, 07 September 2024
12. Pavel Durov Announces First Major Changes in Telegram
The CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov on Friday took to X to announce the first updates in the Telegram platform including the removal of features linked to illegal activities.
🎉 Telegram has reached 10 million paid subscribers. 10 million people are now enjoying Telegram Premium!
— Pavel Durov (@durov) September 6, 2024
🆕 Today, we’re introducing new features while phasing out a few outdated ones.
⛔️ We’ve removed the People Nearby feature, which was used by less than 0.1% of Telegram…
First and foremost, Pavel revealed that “Telegram has reached 10 million paid subscribers. 10 million people are now enjoying Telegram Premium!”
Next, he stated that Telegram has removed the “People Nearby” feature of the app,” which was used by less than 0.1% of Telegram users, but had issues with bots and scammers.”
He added that in place of “People Nearby”, Telegram “will be launching “Businesses Nearby”, showcasing legitimate, verified businesses. These businesses will be able to display product catalogs and accept payments seamlessly.”
Pavel also shared that the company has disabled new media uploads to its standalone blogging tool “Telegraph”, “which seems to have been misused by anonymous actors.”
He opined that all Telegram users are not involved in crime except the 0.001% who defame the entire platform – “putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk.”
Lastly, Pavel pledged to put “moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise.”
▸ 05:46 PM IST, 07 September 2024
13. Telegram Quietly Makes Changes to its FAQs Page
As reported by The Verge on Friday, Telegram has made changes in its FAQs page related to private chats. The sentence reads “All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them.”
Responding to The Verge, a Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn said that the source code of the app has not changed, and “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,” Vaughn wrote in a statement shared with The Verge.
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