While Maillochon and other French journalists report, Durov's officers had been secretly investigating the failure of him and Telegram for blocking illegal activities – of which the authorities claim that fraud, drug trafficking, children's material for children (CSAM), organized, organized crime is. And terrorism – on the platform. Between 2013 and 2024, the French Gendarmerie had counted 2,460 cases in which legal requests to Telegram were not answered, according to the Libération Outlet. Maylis de Roeck, a spokesperson for the office of the public prosecutor, said Wired that when her team realized how many investigations were hindered in different departments by the lack of reaction of Telegram, they decided to carry out an arrest warrant. As they saw it, the silence of Durov on complicity was.
In the immediate aftermath of the arrest, none of Telegram has given public comments. George Lobushkin – the former head of PR at Vkontakte – was one of the closest employees of Durov and CBNewz: 'I am in shock and everyone near Pavel feels the same. Nobody was prepared for this situation. 'Lobushkin added that he was' very' worried about the future of Telegram as Durov remained in custody.
In the US, Tucker Carlson, the right-wing TV host. In a post on X, Carlson Durov called “a living warning to every platform owner who refuses to censor the truth on behalf of governments and Intel agencies.” Elon Musk replaced a clip of Carlson's interview and subtitled the “#Freepensavel.” Even Edward Snowden, a strict critic of the Telegram security claims, expressed an alarm. “I am surprised and deeply sad that Macron has been handed to the level of taking hostages as a means to gain access to private communication,” he wrote on X. Macron, for his part, issued a statement that France “Deeply dedicated to freedom of expression,” adding the arrest: “It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to get out of this.”
On the Sunday evening after Durov's arrest, his custody was extended to the 96 -hour limit. According to Maillochon's sources, he slept in a tight cell, although researchers made the rare concession to have Durov delivered a new set of clothing. Under further interrogation, Durov reportedly claimed that he did not respond to requests from the law enforcement; The police had only sent their requests to the wrong place. (Durov submitted a similar claim in 2022 when the Supreme Court of Brazil forbade telegram, in essence said that the legal requests from the court in the post had been lost.) Durov also said he had been in contact with French intelligence services about terrorism cases.
On August 28, almost four days after his arrest, Durov was formally charged with six charges. The most serious – complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable organized crime and illegal transactions – held a maximum fine of 10 years in prison, as well as a fine of € 500,000 ($ 521,000). With bail at € 5 million ($ 5.2 million) and paid quickly, Durov was released that night, but forbidden to leave the country. He was also instructed to report a police station twice a week.
The case against Durov, the CEO of a huge mainstream platform, was unprecedented. And it came at a time when his claimed libertarian ideals and laissez-faire attitude compared to content aircraft seemed to be. The small size of the Durov team had even inspired Musk to dismiss 80 percent of Twitter staff when he took over, according to Character limitA book by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac. Musk has stripped the moderation and trust and safety of the company. If Durov could run a platform with around 60 full -time employees, most of them in Dubai, why wouldn't you try something similar? More recently, Mark Zuckerberg fired the facts controls from Meta in the US and detached the enforcement of rules against inflammatory content on the platforms of the company. The “recent elections,” said Zuckerberg, were a “cultural turning point in the direction of prioritizing speech again.”
