CEO CHARGED Telegram CEO Pavel Durov charged for allowing alleged criminal activity on app, and banned from leaving France
TELEGRAM CEO Pavel Durov is facing preliminary charges for allowing alleged criminal activity on his messaging app.
French judges have issued the charges against Durov tonight and banned him from leaving France.
The Russian-born CEO, who became a French citizen in 2021, was detained on Saturday outside Paris.
It comes after a judicial inquiry opened last month involving 12 alleged criminal violations.
He was released on Wednesday after four days of questioning - but he was placed on judicial supervision and ordered to pay a €5m (£4.2m) deposit.
Durov is now under a formal investigation by French authorities and has to show up at a police station two times a week.
He is under investigation for six charges including complicity in organised criminal distribution of sexual images of children.
Another charge is the administration of an online platform to enable illicit transactions by an organised gang.
That crime that can lead to sentences of up to 10 years in prison and 500,000 euro fine, the prosecutor's office said.
A third is the refusal to share information with authorities when required by law.
Preliminary charges under French law mean magistrates have strong reason to believe a crime was committed but allow more time for further investigation.
Telegram has insisted it abides by EU laws and its moderation is "within industry standards and constantly improving".
Its statement added: "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse of that platform."
If convicted, Durov could spend decades in jail.
He was first detained upon arrival at Le Bourget airport north of Paris by investigators of France's National Anti-Fraud Office.
It comes due to of apparent failures to employ enough moderators to stop terrorism , drug trafficking and money laundering to fester online.
What is Telegram?
TELEGRAM is a cloud-based instant messaging app that was launched in 2013 by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai Durov.
Telegram became widely known for its strong emphasis on privacy and security, offering end-to-end encrypted messaging, channels for broadcasting to large audiences, and features including self-destructing messages.
Telegram's commitment to privacy has made it popular with users around the world, but it has also attracted criticism from governments, which claim that the app is used by criminals and terrorists to communicate without detection.
French authorities opened a preliminary investigation in February in response to the near total absence of a response by Telegram to judicial requests for data for pursuing suspects, notably those accused of crimes against children, the prosecutors office said.
Durov's arrest in France has caused outrage in Russia, with some government officials branding it politically motivated.
The backlash has raised eyebrows among Kremlin critics because in 2018, Russian authorities themselves tried to block the Telegram app but failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020.
French President Emmanuel Macron denied on Monday that Durov's arrest was a political move but part of an independent investigation.
The UAE Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it was "closely following the case".
Born on October 10, 1984, in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Russia, Durov is often referred to as the "Russian Mark Zuckerberg" due to the similarities between VK and Facebook.
In 2006, Durov, along with his older brother Nikolai, launched VKontakte, which quickly became Russia's most popular social network.
But his time at VK was not without controversy as Durov clashed with Russian authorities over demands to censor content and provide user data to the government.
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