Pavel Durov, the Founder of Telegram, Arrested in Paris

Pavel Durov does not enjoy the same celebrity as Tim Cook or Mark Zuckerberg, although he could call himself a colleague of theirs. Although his creature, Telegram, is less well-known than Apple's software and does not have as many users as Facebook and WhatsApp, it is nevertheless a service that has made life easier for many in the hyper-digital society in which we live. Among them, however, it must be emphasised, there are also many malicious people.

Because of this, Durov was stopped by the French gendarmerie at Le Bourget airport (Paris), as soon as he stepped off his personal jet. The police placed him under arrest on his return from a trip to Azerbaijan. He was charged with a deep search warrant ordered by the national directorate of judicial police and issued on the basis of a preliminary investigation.

The Judiciary against Pavel Durov

Based on the measure - which is causing controversy among many, worldwide - is the lack of cooperation with authorities and law enforcement agencies. Telegram, in fact, despite being a service designed to operate in the light of day, allows anyone wishing to carry out illicit activities a convenient way of doing so: the application can in fact provide disposable numbers with which to open illegal channels where information and content can be exchanged that is borderline or explicit.

Since Durov's application is an agile vehicle that can be easily obtained by anyone (it can be downloaded for free), its founder is held objectively responsible - though not complicit, at least at the moment - for what takes place on the channels that are part of its container, so to speak.

On Telegram, in fact, it is possible to carry out numerous opaque operations. From the exchange of cryptocurrencies outside of any registry (in a completely informal way, not through a system outside of exchanges but allowed, such as the exchange over the counter) to computer fraud; from cyberbullying to drug trafficking; from apologia for terrorism to the organisation of mafia-like criminal activities, and even the dissemination of child pornography. Durov and his staff never did anything to curb these communications, in the name of freedom of speech.

Trap-or-disregard?

The execution of the warrant against the Telegram founder was conditional on his presence on French territory. In fact, Pavel Durov only needed not to set foot in France to avoid arrest. As soon as he stepped on transalpine soil, the CEO was stopped by the gendarmes.

Telegram has been in the crosshairs of the EU - not just France - for some time. Not surprisingly, Durov had not been back in Europe for months. In fact, he has been living between the countries of the former Soviet Union, Latin America or the Arab Emirates. When he appears before the judge, he will be charged with numerous offences: terrorism, fraud, drug trafficking, receiving stolen goods, money laundering and aiding and abetting the circulation of explicit content with minors.

The Motivations of the Proceedings against Pavel Durov

The French channel TF1 broadcast an interview with a spokesman for the local police force, who gave the following reasons for the entire operation against the Telegram founder:

"It is certain that Pavel Durov will end up in custody. He allowed countless crimes and offences to be committed on his platform, without doing anything to moderate or cooperate. For years Telegram has been the number 1 platform for organised crime."

The operation has a twofold purpose: on the one hand it wants to dissuade criminals from using Telegram, allowing people with no nefarious intentions to use it without concern, and on the other hand it wants to put pressure on other European countries to increase their joint work to counter the spread of terrorist content online. Compared to other prosecutions against illustrious figures we have dealt with, such as the against Changpeng Zhao of Binance, this time it is not just about financial crimes.

The Entrepreneurial History of Pavel Durov

Pavel Durov played an active role in the founding of VKontakte, known as VK, Russia's largest social network. When he later sold his part, he undertook to create a service that would encrypt every communication, so that he would never hand over any of his user data to third parties, as other social networks usually do. This scrupulousness has probably attracted a large number of malicious people to Telegram, precisely because this type of messaging allows them to communicate undisturbed.

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