The French justice system must decide this Wednesday whether charges and eventually orders preventive detention for the founder of Telegramthe Franco-Russian Pavel Durov, after his arrest on Saturday which sparked criticism around the world.
To the 39-year-old billionaire, arrested at Le Bourget airport north of Parishe is accused of failure to act against the dissemination of criminal content in their encrypted messaging service.
The company, which has 900 million users, said it “complies with EU laws” and that “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuses.”
Telegram It has positioned itself as an alternative to American messaging platforms, criticized for their commercial exploitation of users’ personal data, defending confidentiality.
Encrypted messaging plays a key role in the context of the Russian offensive in Ukrainelaunched in February 2022, and is actively used by politicians and observers on both sides.
But his detractors Telegram is accused of hosting often illegal contentfrom extreme sexual images to misinformation and drug purchasing services.
The French justice system had opened an investigation on July 8 for complicity in Organized crimes on the platform such as drug trafficking, child pornography, fraud and money laundering in an organized gang, among others.
His bodyguard and assistant, who were also arrested on Saturday evening upon their arrival in France with Durov, were released after being questioned, according to a source close to the case.
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The tycoon could follow in the footsteps of his workers or end up in preventive detention or with judicial control, if the investigating judges decide to send him to the Paris court for indictment.