Telegram CEO Pavel Durov allowed child pornography and drug trafficking on app, French court rules

New Delhi:

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, has been charged in France with allowing various criminal activities to take place on the messaging app. The billionaire failed to prevent the distribution of sexual images of children, drug trafficking and other illegal activities on Telegram, the court ruled.

In a statement, prosecutors in Paris said Durov has been charged with refusing to share documents demanded by authorities, as well as “distributing images of minors in child pornography,” as well as drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering.

The charges against the 39-year-old paint a picture of a platform that has been largely uncooperative with authorities, and include allegations that he refused to help authorities legally wiretap suspects. He has also been accused of enabling gangs and organized crime networks to conduct illegal transactions on the app.

Russian-born Durov, who was arrested on Saturday, was granted bail on the condition that he not leave France and report to a police station twice a week. He was also ordered to pay $5.6 million in bail.

In a statement published on Telegram on Sunday, the Dubai-based company claimed that Durov has “nothing to hide” and that the app complies with European law.

“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform,” the statement said. “We await a swift resolution of this situation.”

The case has fueled debate over where free speech ends and law enforcement begins. It also underscores the uneasy relationship between governments and Telegram, which has nearly 1 billion users, while serving as a warning shot to tech giants that refuse to comply with authorities over perceived illegality on their platforms.

In addition, Durov is also being investigated on suspicion of “serious acts of violence” against one of his children while he and an ex-partner, the boy’s mother, were in Paris, the source said. She also filed another complaint against Durov in Switzerland last year.