Getty Images | Steve Jennings
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arraigned in France today and ordered to post a €5 million bail. The multibillionaire was banned from leaving the country and must report to police twice a week while the case is ongoing.
The charges were detailed in a statement issued today by Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, which was provided to Ars. They are nearly identical to the potential charges Beccuau released Monday.
The first charge is complicity in “webmastering an online platform to facilitate an illegal transaction in an organized group.” Today’s press release states that this charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros.
Telegram's alleged refusal to cooperate with criminal investigations resulted in a charge of “refusal to provide, upon request of competent authorities, information or documents necessary for conducting and carrying out lawful wiretapping activities.”
Beccuau said there was an almost total lack of response from Telegram to requests for cooperation in cases involving crimes against minors, drug offenses and online hate. This led authorities to “open an investigation into the possible criminal responsibility of the messaging app's executives in committing these crimes,” Beccuau said, as quoted by Bloomberg.
Durov was also charged with complicity in drug trafficking and distribution of child pornography.
Cryptology related costs
He was also accused of providing crypto services without making required declarations to government officials. Under French law, crypto providers must make declarations to ANSSI, the country’s cybersecurity agency. French authorities can require companies to provide “the technical characteristics and source code of the crypto assets that were the subject of the declaration.”
The charges against Durov include “providing cryptology services for the purpose of ensuring confidentiality without a certified statement”, “providing a cryptology tool that does not ensure authentication or integrity assurance without prior statement” and “importing a cryptology tool that ensures authentication or integrity assurance without prior statement”.
Telegram offers a mix of private messaging and social networking features. Telegram messages do not have end-to-end encryption by default, but the security feature can be enabled for one-on-one conversations.
In response to Durov's arrest, Telegram said Sunday that it follows the law and industry standards for moderation, calling it “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse of that platform.”
French authorities have also reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Durov's brother and Telegram co-founder, Nikolai.
