Just got in: French prosecutors have charged Russian-born Telegram founder Pavel Durov with a series of crimes and banned him from leaving the country. He is now under strict legal control with twice-weekly police checks and must post bail of 5 million euros, according to a statement from Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
This development marks a major milestone in one of the most important technology news stories of this year, which began less than a week ago when French authorities arrested Durov at Le Bourget airport outside Paris. Shortly afterward, prosecutors released a list of charges that have now been officially filed against the Telegram founder.
The said list contains 12 points, mostly related to Durov's alleged complicity in money laundering, drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In addition, there are charges related to refusing to cooperate with authorities on lawful wiretapping requests and providing unlicensed encryption tools. (The last part appears to refer to a specific French law that requires certification for any cryptographic tool imported into the country.)
In the four days since Durov's arrest, reactions have come from all directions. From Elon Musk and American far-right influencers to Russian government officials and even Kim Dotcom, many people with less than impeccable reputations seem to be concerned.
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Russia and the United Arab Emirates had also requested consular access during Durov's detention; there is no information on whether either of these steps was granted. According to media reports, Durov currently holds four passports – those of France, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and St. Kitts and Nevis.
What is Telegram planning?
There are plenty of problems with Telegram. Anyone familiar with what goes on on the platform cannot deny that Telegram has indeed tolerated terrible things, from CSAM trafficking to drug trafficking to war criminal coordination and communications. The amount of misinformation and disinformation being spread through the platform is also appalling.
In addition, Durov's possible connection to Russian intelligence services is a cause for concern, even if there is no hard evidence to support this. However, it is already obvious that the image of being someone at odds with the Russian establishment that Durov spent a lot of time building in the 2010s is badly damaged.
Take, for example, Durov's flight to Le Bourget on Saturday. The tech founder was travelling there from Azerbaijan, where he had spent a few days; coincidentally, Vladimir Putin was there at the same time. Russian state media was quick to report that Durov had sought a meeting with Putin but was turned down – although no sane person would take these reports at face value.
Just recently, several media outlets reported on an alleged massive leak from the Russian border service, which revealed, among other things, that Durov had visited the country over 60 times between 2015 and 2021. At the time, the Telegram founder publicly distanced himself from his home country and actively cultivated the image of a global citizen.
It's also worth mentioning that Telegram positions itself as an inherently secure, privacy-focused, and encrypted messaging platform. However, that's not entirely true, as individual chats are not end-to-end encrypted by default, and group chats and channels cannot be end-to-end encrypted by default. This means that it's technically possible for someone within the company to read most messages sent on the platform.
At the same time, Telegram was undoubtedly crucial for citizen communication in Ukraine in the first days and months after the large-scale Russian invasion began. Often, it was local public channels that warned people about missile attacks and Russian troop movements before official media did. Telegram was also used by dissidents and protesters around the world to communicate and coordinate.
The enfant terrible
Nevertheless, Telegram's main sin seems to be not what happened on the platform itself, but rather its blatant unwillingness to cooperate with law enforcement authorities. In her statement, the prosecutor stressed that the company had given “almost no response” to numerous requests from various EU countries.
This echoes a particularly apt comment from Casey Newton in his recent Platformer newsletter: “To fend off burdensome speech restrictions and overzealous prosecutors, platform developers must act responsibly. Telegram has never even pretended to do so.”
From an objective (and privacy-conscious) perspective, this seems like one of those unfortunate situations where everyone is in the wrong. Arresting the CEO of a tech company for apparently refusing to hand over data about its users sets a dangerous precedent that could have far-reaching consequences.
On the other hand, the experience of Telegram's competitors in the market – from Signal to Apple – shows that there are ways to cooperate with the authorities without compromising user privacy, and there was no good reason for Durov to completely ignore the existence of laws and regulations. By failing to recognise this, he may have made the situation worse for everyone who cares about online security, privacy and the right to encryption.
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