TELEGRAM, the shadowy encrypted messaging app, has drummed up a firestorm of controversy following its CEO’s arrest.
The platform rose to prominence as one of the most-used encrypted messaging services in the world, with just shy of a billion users.
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It has proven popular in countries with high censorship, like Russia, where it serves as a channel for political content.
While the app was designed for the fairly innocuous purpose of safeguarding user privacy, this made it equally attractive to bad actors.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durev now stands accused of failing to moderate the platform, paving the way for crimes like terrorism and drug trafficking.
The app is commonly referred to as an “encrypted” service, meaning the contents of messages are scrambled so they can only be deciphered using a secret decryption key.
In the tech industry, “encrypted” usually describes the use of end-to-end encryption, which ensures only the sender and receiver of a message can read it.
Despite its reputation, there is disagreement over whether Telegram is as safe as users think.
The platform does not default to end-to-end encryption. Rather, the “Secret Chats” feature must be enabled on a conversation-by-conversation basis.
The feature is unavailable for group chats with three or more users – meaning evidence of organized crime was left in plain sight of law enforcement officials.
French authorities took Durov into custody on Saturday. Local reports claimed the bust was part of an inquiry into whether the CEO refused to cooperate with investigations into illegal activity on Telegram.
However, the Russian-born technocrat has refuted allegations that he let these crimes take place.
“Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,” Telegram said in a statement shortly after his arrest.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
Durov was born in the Soviet Union in 2014. He is the mastermind behind Vkontakte, commonly billed as the Russian version of Russia.
The tech tycoon fled after refusing to surrender the private data of Ukranian users to the Russian government in 2014. He now resides in Dubai, where Telegram is based.
Despite Durov’s contested history with the Kremlin, the Russian Embassy in France released a statement on X calling for his release.
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“We immediately asked the French authorities for an explanation of the reasons and demanded that his rights be protected and that consular access be granted,” the post read.
“As of today, the French side has so far avoided cooperation on this issue.” The embassy said it remains in contact with Durov’s lawyer.
News of Telegram’s takedown should come as no surprise to tech enthusiasts.
The platform was known for years to harbor illegal activity including the sale of stolen login credentials and trading of child exploitation material.
However, it has also served as a crucial information transmission tool amid the Russian offense in Ukraine.
The app supports the creation of public feeds of photos or videos that can be shared with an unlimited number of followers.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even broadcasts announcements over Telegram, enabling him to maintain constant communication with the Ukrainian people.
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Other public figures have called for Durov’s release, while data privacy experts say the arrest sets a dangerous precedent.
Leonid Volkov, formerly a top adviser to the late Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, advocated for Durov in a social media post.
“Telegram has indeed become a platform that is actively used by all sorts of crime, and opaque, weak policies for filtering illegal content have greatly stimulated this,” Volkov wrote.
However, he continued, such oversight did not mean Durov was directly responsible for the offenses.
“It seems to me that Durov’s detention by the French authorities is politically and humanly wrong,” Volkov wrote.
“Durov is not an ‘accomplice’ to the crimes committed by Telegram users. He must be released.”
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Amid swirling speculation, French President Emmanuel Macron issued his own statement, claiming he’d encountered “false information” about Durov’s arrest.
Macron affirmed France‘s commitment to free speech, writing that the country was “deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication.”
He also hit back at allegations – including those raised by Russian authorities – that Durov’s detention was politically motivated.
“The arrest of the Telegram president on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” Macron wrote.
“This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide.”
