DUBAI — With the arrest of Pavel Durov, the UAE’s follow of granting citizenship and residence to high-profile buyers is again within the information.
Durov, a twin French-Emirati citizen, was arrested by the French authorities in Paris on Aug. 24 on fees of cyber criminality, which he denies.
The costs levied in opposition to him and Telegram, the messaging app he based in 2013, contain little one pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform.
His arrest sparked an enchantment from the UAE, which mentioned it was looking for “pressing” consular companies for its arrested citizen.
The case has highlighted the standing of Emirati residents equivalent to Durov, who acquired citizenship in 2021 after having made the UAE his house since 2017. Durov co-founded Russia’s VKontakte social networking platform in 2006 however bought his stake and left Russia in 2014.
Citizenship legal guidelines
Durov moved to the UAE to develop Telegram, a messaging platform that prides itself on excessive ranges of encryption and knowledge privateness.
He joins a number of people who’ve taken benefit of the UAE’s meritocratic awarding of long-term residence and citizenship.
UAE regulation doesn’t usually permit twin citizenship. Nonetheless, amendments to the nation’s legal guidelines in 2021 permit for these with excessive ranges of investments and particular abilities to accumulate Emirati citizenship topic to particular provisions.
The regulation encourages people with excessive internet value in addition to artists and people in medical or engineering professions to develop into UAE residents.
“The UAE goals to convey to the world that it’s dedicated to defending its residents, no matter the place they’re. This method helps appeal to gifted people to the UAE to conduct enterprise,” Marco Mossad, a non-resident scholar at Washington DC-based Center East Coverage Council, instructed Al-Monitor.
Progress of Telegram
Durov, who bought his stake in VKontakte for an estimated $3-4 billion, moved his property to the UAE, the place he grew his Telegram empire.
Telegram maintains a low profile within the UAE. Its staff are required to stay nameless and haven’t any presence on skilled social networking web sites equivalent to Linkedin.
Messages despatched by Al-Monitor to Mike Ravdonikas, the corporate’s vp for communications primarily based in Dubai, concerning Durov’s arrest went unanswered. Ravdonikas’s profile on the app flashed, “In case you’re right here about Telegram, you are within the improper place.”
Durov grew the corporate to 900 million subscribers earlier this yr. As he contemplated a possible public providing of the corporate, Durov mentioned that buyers valued his firm at round “$30 billion-plus.”
His arrest is probably the most high-profile of any tech entrepreneur, making his worth as a high-stakes investor within the UAE’s financial system all of the extra important.
“They’ll come out to bat for him, they usually’ll do what they should do,” Stephen Fallon, a researcher with the College of Cambridge, instructed Al-Monitor.
Intelligence sharing
Durov’s arrest additionally raises issues over the corporate’s knowledge sharing with governments. As an advocate at no cost speech, Durov has decidedly refused to share person info and intelligence with states, particularly Russia, a coverage that led him to depart his native nation.
“Telegram has develop into a repository of important info related to the nationwide safety of many international locations, largely on account of its options,” Mossad mentioned.
Among the many options which have come up for scrutiny with the French authorities is its skill to host as much as 200,000 members in teams and the unrestricted sharing of hyperlinks and enormous information, with minimal supervision by Telegram.
Its distinctive options have beforehand allowed terror teams such because the Islamic State and others, in addition to drug and human traffickers, to make use of the platform broadly. The knowledge saved and disseminated on the app can be invaluable to international locations looking for intelligence on sure teams and customers.
Web freedom
The UAE ranked 18th out of 100 on world freedom and thirtieth for web freedom in 2024, in accordance with Freedom Home, making Durov’s presence and his advocacy at no cost speech and liberal web within the UAE an anomaly.
Mossad famous that Durov has beforehand mentioned he would adjust to governments solely when legally required, regardless of resisting Moscow’s strain to share knowledge.
“In France, this might be underneath the EU Digital Providers Act of 2022, which mandates that social media firms share essential info,” Mossad mentioned. “Due to this fact, it’s possible he would solely share intelligence with the UAE if the regulation explicitly required it, and even then, he would accomplish that on the minimal degree vital.”
In a remark to Al-Monitor, a UAE authorities official mentioned, “The UAE prioritizes the welfare of its residents, safeguarding their pursuits and offering them with help as a key precedence.”
“We’re in contact with the French authorities about this case and Pavel Durov’s representatives,” the official added.
Nonetheless, a UAE official instructed Reuters on Thursday that it was prioritizing “the welfare of its residents, safeguarding their pursuits and offering them with help as a key precedence.”
“The UAE actually values its citizenship and it does not give it out flippantly,” Fallon mentioned. “So within the case of Durov, what we see right here is that they’re saying we worth our citizenship and we’re ready to guard individuals who we deliver into the fold.”
Excessive-profile residents
Durov is one amongst a number of UAE residents that the UAE has incentivized to make the nation their house.
Erik Prince, the previous CEO of Blackwater who has made Abu Dhabi his house and provides non-public safety companies to the UAE, discovered himself in an analogous scenario to Durov’s. Prince, a controversial determine and a staunch supporter of former US President Donald Trump, was accused by an Austrian courtroom in 2023 of the crime of exporting a retrofitted crop-spraying plane for army functions. He was later acquitted of all fees.
“All these people, are they helpful to the [UAE] purely as a result of they’re bringing in cash?” a safety supply near Prince commented to Al-Monitor. “I believe from the Emirati perspective, why would not you utilize him as both a again channel or doubtlessly even a proxy, significantly given his connections to Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner?”
Leveraging strategic pursuits
Durov’s case, a proper investigation in France as of Wednesday, has introduced consideration to the UAE’s strategic efforts to safeguard its enterprise and intelligence pursuits by means of its high-profile investor residents and residents.
“The UAE goals to convey to the world that it’s dedicated to defending its residents, no matter the place they’re,” Mossad mentioned. “The UAE is leveraging this case to advertise its pursuits.”
This text was up to date at 3:50 p.m. ET to incorporate a remark from a UAE authorities official.
