What is Telegram and why was its CEO arrested in Paris?

PARIS (AP) — Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested in Paris over the weekend following allegations that his platform was used for illicit activities such as drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images.

Born in Russia, Durov spent much of his childhood in Italy. He holds citizenship in France, Russia, the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis and the United Arab Emirates. He was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget airport in France on Saturday after landing from Azerbaijan.

In a statement on its platform, Telegram said it complies with EU laws and that its content moderation is “in line with industry standards and is constantly improving.” Durov, the company added, “has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.”

Here are some details about Telegram, the app at the center of Durov's arrest.

What is Telegram?

Telegram is an app that allows for one-on-one conversations, group chats, and large “channels” that allow users to broadcast messages to their followers. Unlike competitors like Meta’s WhatsApp, Telegram’s group chats can accommodate up to 200,000 people, compared to WhatsApp’s maximum of 1,024. Experts worry that misinformation can spread easily in group chats of this size.

Telegram offers encryption for its communications, but contrary to popular belief, this feature is not enabled by default. Users must enable the option to encrypt their conversations. It also does not work with group conversations. This is in contrast to its competitors Signal and Facebook Messenger, where conversations are end-to-end encrypted by default.

Telegram claims to have more than 950 million active users. The app is widely used in France as a messaging tool, including by some officials at the presidential palace and the ministry behind the Durov investigation. But French investigators have also found the app used by Islamist extremists and drug traffickers.

Telegram was launched in 2013 by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai. According to Telegram, Pavel Durov supports the app “financially and ideologically, while Nikolai's contribution is technological.”

Before Telegram, Durov founded VKontakte, Russia’s largest social network. The company came under pressure from the Russian government after mass pro-democracy protests rocked Moscow in late 2011 and 2012. Durov said government authorities demanded that VKontakte remove online communities of Russian opposition activists. She later demanded the platform hand over the personal data of users who participated in the 2013 uprising in Ukraine, which ultimately toppled a pro-Kremlin president.

But Durov sold his stake in VKontakte under pressure from Russian authorities in 2014. He also left the country. Today, Telegram is based in Dubai, which Durov called “the best place for a neutral platform like ours if we want to make sure that we can defend the privacy and freedom of expression of our users” in an April interview with conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson.

Why was Durov arrested?

French media reported that Durov was arrested on an arrest warrant alleging his platform was used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other crimes. As of Monday afternoon, he had not been charged and few details were available about the investigation.

On Sunday evening, a French investigating judge extended Durov's detention, French media reported Monday. Under French law, Durov can be held for questioning for up to four days. After that, judges must decide whether to charge him or release him.

What was the response?

In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on reports of Durov's arrest in France.

“We still do not know exactly what Durov is accused of,” Peskov said Monday at his daily news conference. “We have not heard any official statements on this.”

“Let's wait until the charges are announced – if they are announced,” Peskov said.

Russian government officials have expressed outrage at Durov’s detention, with some calling it politically motivated and evidence of the West’s double standards on freedom of expression. The outcry has raised eyebrows among Kremlin critics: In 2018, Russian authorities themselves tried to block Telegram but failed, lifting the ban in 2020.

Elsewhere, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X who has called himself a “free speech absolutist,” spoke out in support of Durov and posted “#freePavel” after his arrest.

In a statement posted on its platform after his arrest, Telegram said it complied with EU laws and that its moderation was “in line with industry standards and constantly improving.”

“It is absurd to claim that any platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of this platform,” Telegram said in its message. “Nearly a billion users worldwide rely on Telegram as a means of communication and a source of vital information. We expect a quick resolution of this situation. Telegram is with all of you.”

Does Telegram moderate content?

Western governments have often criticized Telegram for its lack of content moderation, which experts say opens the messaging platform to potential use in money laundering, drug trafficking and sharing material related to the sexual exploitation of minors.

Compared to other messaging platforms, Telegram is “less secure (and) more lax in terms of policies and detection of illegal content,” David Thiel, a Stanford University researcher who has investigated the use of online platforms for child exploitation, told his Internet Observatory.

Additionally, Telegram “appears fundamentally impervious to law enforcement,” Thiel said, adding that messaging service WhatsApp “submitted over 1.3 million CyberTipline reports in 2023 (and) Telegram submits none.”

In 2022, Germany fined Telegram operators €5.125 million ($5 million) for failing to comply with German law. The Federal Office of Justice said Telegram FZ-LLC had failed to establish a legal means to report illegal content or designate an entity in Germany to receive official communications.

Both of these requirements are imposed by German laws that regulate large online platforms.

Last year, Brazil temporarily suspended Telegram over its refusal to provide data on neo-Nazi activity linked to a police investigation into school shootings in November.

In response to the arrest, Telegram said it complies with EU laws and that its content moderation is “in line with industry standards and constantly improving.”

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Associated Press journalists Barbara Surk in Nice, France, and Daria Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.