Telegram CEO Pavel Durov transferred to French court for ‘possible indictment’

Pavel Durov, the founder of popular messaging app Telegram, has been released from French custody after being held for 4 days and has been transferred to court, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

Durov will appear before a judge for a first appearance and “a possible indictment,” Paris authorities said in a statement. A decision is expected some time on Wednesday.

Telegram did not return a request for comment.

Durov, who operates Telegram from Dubai, was apprehended as he was traveling back from Azerbaijan.

Durov, 39, a reclusive tech billionaire, holds citizenship in both the United Arab Emirates and France.

Prosecutors in Paris announced they had launched a broad-ranging investigation into online crimes last month involving the circulation of child abuse images, illegal drug peddling and the refusal to cooperate with authorities.

Authorities had been questioning Durov as part of that probe. French law enforcement officials say a “person unnamed” prompted the investigation. It remains unclear whether the probe’s main target is Durov or someone else.

Durov’s arrest has set off a debate over the balance of online safety and free expression, with one side describing the tech executive as a free speech martyr and others underscoring Telegram’s long history of ignoring law enforcement requests over illicit activity.

Whatever Durov’s portrayal, a government arresting the founder and CEO of a popular social media platform over its content is considered extraordinary and historic.

After French officials detained Durov, Telegram released a statement saying that “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” adding that the platform complies with European Union laws.

Russian government officials condemned Durov's detention. A spokesman for the Kremlin said Tuesday that arresting Durov could be viewed as an act of intimidation and a suppression of freedom of speech if France did not provide serious evidence of his guilt.

The support from Russian officials raised questions about how the Kremlin has changed its view of Durov, since Russia has, at various times, fined Telegram for not taking down content and temporarily banned the app in Russia.

Founded in 2013, Telegram now has more than 900 million users, making it among the most popular messaging services in the world. The platform is known for “channels,” or sprawling group chats of hundreds of thousands of people often organized around live news events, like the war in Ukraine, or political and investing topics.

On Telegram, channels are not encrypted, nor are most one-on-one conversations by default. But users can turn on end-to-end encryption in individual chats, putting the chat logs outside the reach of law enforcement, since Telegram itself would not have a record of what was shared or said.

The level of security, which is also featured in chats on competing messaging services WhatsApp and Signal, can be used for protection from prying governments but also harnessed by bad actors to conduct covert and illegal activities.

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