Telegram is hanging in the balance because of Pavel Durov’s arrest

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest on French soil is not related to the case against a new law enforcement agency in France, as reported by Françoise Lavite

Telegram did not reply to any questions about the investigation, but posted a statement to the company’s news channel on Sunday that said Durov has nothing to hide.

Lavite notes that Durov is a French citizen who was arrested in French territory with an arrest warrant issued by French judges. She adds that it is not unusual for a wide array of charges to be involved in an investigation due to France’s ambiguous legislative arsenal.

Representatives from OFMIN declined to answer questions about the investigation and redirected WIRED to France’s Ministry of Justice, which did not immediately respond. The Paris prosecutors office said in an email that a full press release is expected on Monday.

An arrest warrant for Durov was issued by OFMIN, a new law enforcement office that was established in November and is responsible for preventing violence against children. Durov’s arrest is reportedly part of a preliminary investigation into a startling array of alleged offenses—drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and the promotion of terrorism—deemed to have been permitted on Telegram, which Durov claimed in July has 950 million users.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov continues to be detained in France in connection with a criminal investigation into the messaging app’s failure to cooperate with law enforcement requests, authorities in Paris announced on Monday.

Prosecutors say they launched an investigation last month into a “person unnamed” for violations including the spread of child pornography, peddling illegal drugs and failure to cooperate with authorities in a probe into organized fraud.

The lack of moderation and cooperation of the platform is at the crux of the case, according to a top police official in France. In the fight against child pornography.

Brian Fishman, a counter-terrorism researcher, wrote that Telegram has ignored requests from law enforcement to look at terrorism groups and child porn.

Elon Musk mused on X that the future could include “being executed for liking a meme,” and self-proclaimed whistleblower Edward Snowden described Durov’s arrest an assault on “the basic human rights of speech and association.” Durov’s being arrested was similar to taking hostages as a means of getting access to private communications, according to the author.

The president of Telegram was arrested on French soil as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It isn’t a political decision. It is up to the judges to make a decision.

The investigation was initiated by “Section J3” cybercrime prosecutors and has involved collaboration with France’s Centre for the Fight against Cybercrime (C3N) and Anti-Fraud National Office (ONAF), according to the press release. The statement was written by the Paris prosecutor, who said that it was within the framework in which Durov was questioned.

The case raises discussions about the balance between free speech and users’ rights on one hand and the need for content moderation on the other. There is a lot of information unknown about the investigation and a few blurry zones, according to her.

News on Telegram’s Progress in the App Store Social Networks and App Store Store Rankings on Monday, January 21st, 2010, 11:12pm

Telegram moved up from 18th to 8th place in Apple’s US App Store rankings on Monday, and it seems to have been a result of the situation. The app was number one in the App Store social network category and number three in the overall category, and global downloads were up by 4%.