After CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France, Telegram says it’s ‘absurd’ to blame a platform if users abuse it

Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, was reportedly arrested at an airport close to Paris on Saturday as a part of a preliminary investigation into the app’s lax method to moderation and failure to curb legal actions, in accordance to Reuters, which cited the French information retailers BFM TV and TF1. Telegram can also be reportedly being accused of not cooperating with police. On Sunday afternoon, Telegram posted a assertion to its official information channel and on X, saying that CEO Durov “has nothing to hide” and that it “is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”

“Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving,” it stated. Durov was taken into custody after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a personal jet, Reuters reported. In accordance to the BBC, the considerations of the present investigation embody the app’s failure to crack down on drug trafficking, little one sexual abuse supplies, and fraudulent actions.

Telegram is without doubt one of the hottest social media platforms in the world, and is broadly used in components of Europe and Asia particularly. Durov stated earlier this 12 months that it was nearing one billion energetic month-to-month users. The app makes use of end-to-end encryption and helps teams containing tens of hundreds of members, permitting mass sharing of knowledge and uncensored content material.

NPR studies that a assertion from the Paris prosecutor’s workplace shall be launched on Monday. “We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation,” Telegram stated in its personal assertion.

Replace, August 25 2024, 4:48PM ET: This story has been up to date to embody a assertion from Telegram.