Before Pavel Durov’s arrest, the messaging app’s “Russian origins” placed it in the bloc’s crosshairs
The arrest in France of Telegram founder Pavel Durov is the latest escalation in an EU-wide campaign against the Russian entrepreneur and his privacy-focused messaging app. After limited bans in some member states, officials in Brussels announced earlier this year that they would bend their own laws to enforce censorship rules on the platform.
Durov, who also holds French citzenship, was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday, immediately after arriving from Azerbaijan by private jet. According to French media, prosecutors in Paris plan to accuse the 39-year-old of complicity in drug trafficking, pedophilia offenses, and fraud. They will reportedly argue that Telegram’s insufficient content moderation, its strong encryption tools, and its alleged lack of cooperation with police allow criminality to flourish on the app.
In the years leading up to Durov’s arrest, EU officials and individual member states have targeted Telegram with bans, regulations, and threats of legal action.
