The boss of social media platform Telegram has been arrested in France, accused of permitting the sharing of unlawful content material.
The Russia-founded messaging platform has stayed out of the limelight within the West however has lots of of tens of millions of customers the world over, and performs a key function within the Ukraine struggle.
– Libertarian leanings –
Pavel Durov, arrested after touchdown on his personal jet in Paris on Saturday, launched the platform in 2013 together with his brother Nikolai.
It claims to have 950 million customers — up from 550 million in 2022.
Durov informed right-wing American journalist Tucker Carlson in April that customers “love the privateness, the liberty” of the platform.
Telegram has made nice play out of refusing at hand over or promote person information, distinguishing itself from the enterprise fashions of US rivals like Meta or Google.
In Russia and Ukraine, a few of its information channels are extra fashionable than conventional media.
However the platform has lengthy been criticised for failing to average excessive content material.
Durov, who has a internet price of $15.5 billion in keeping with Forbes, informed the Monetary Occasions in March he deliberate to enhance the moderation mechanisms.
However “except they cross purple traces, I do not suppose that we needs to be policing individuals in the way in which they specific themselves,” he mentioned.
Howewer, he additionally mentioned the agency solely employs a couple of dozen individuals, which specialists mentioned might not be sufficient to offer a correctly safe platform.
– Russian origins –
The 39-year-old made a reputation for himself in 2006 when he launched the social community VKontakte (VK) shortly after graduating from St Petersburg State College.
Thousands and thousands joined up and it rapidly turned often known as “Russia’s Fb”, its reputation piquing the curiosity of the Kremlin.
He mentioned he needed to fend off calls for from the Russian safety providers at hand over particulars of opposition teams utilizing VK to organise.
And later he got here underneath large strain at hand over the private information of pro-European activists in Ukraine.
These experiences led to him forming Telegram, and ultimately promoting his stake in VK in 2014 and leaving Russia.
By 2017, he arrange in Dubai, retaining at arm’s size from more durable regulatory regimes within the European Union and the USA.
Durov has citizenship of the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts and Nevis in addition to French nationality, which he picked up in 2021.
– Authorized troubles –
French prosecutors accuse Telegram of failing to average content material or collaborate with the authorities.
They’ve highlighted content material involving fraud, drug trafficking, organised crime, glorification of terrorism and cyberbullying.
The agency has mentioned it can’t be held liable for what its customers do — a defence lengthy utilized by huge tech platforms.
A number of nations have tried to dam Telegram previously.
In 2018, Iran accused it of internet hosting violent opposition teams.
In the identical 12 months, Russia mentioned it had failed at hand over encryption keys.
Final 12 months, Brazil blocked it briefly for failing to offer information on neo-Nazi teams and Spain acted over mental property violations.
– No income but –
Telegram was totally funded by Durov till 2018, when it raised $1.7 billion to launch its personal cryptocurrency.
The crypto undertaking collapsed after US regulators refused to approve it, and the corporate reimbursed a lot of the funding.
The messaging service started operating adverts in 2021 however insisted it might not use customers’ personal information for focusing on.
A premium subscription system adopted in 2022.
Durov informed the Monetary Occasions his firm was producing lots of of tens of millions in income and hoped to show a revenue quickly.
He additionally didn’t rule out floating on the inventory alternate.
Although he has repeatedly said his mission shouldn’t be about getting wealthy.
“For me the whole lot in my life was about changing into free,” he informed Carlson, saying Telegram was about permitting others to specific their liberty.
