Lack of moderation lands Telegram CEO in jail

Pavel Durov, the chief executive officer of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested by French authorities on Saturday, according to TF1 INFO.

Officers from several French agencies, including Air Transport Gendarmerie (GTA), the Cyberspace Gendarmerie Command (COMCyberGEND), the National Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF) and the Border Police (PAF) participated in the arrest.

Duruv was nabbed after he arrived from Azerbaijan in his private jet at Le Bourget airport, which is near Paris.

Originally hailing from Russia, 39-year-old Durov created Telegram with his brother Nikolai in 2013. It’s one of the most downloaded apps all over the world and boasts 900 million users. It isn’t as heavily moderated as other popular communication apps. This off-hand approach is allegedly the reason why Durov was arrested, as the app is viewed as a popular hangout spot for criminals and troublemakers.

He is reportedly being accused of not having the guardrails to prevent criminal use of his app and allowing it to be used for offenses such as money laundering and drug trafficking. 

In addition to not being properly moderated, Telegram is also being blamed for not being cooperative with law enforcement agencies and offering tools such as cryptocurrency that facilitate criminal activities.

Durov will allegedly be taken to court on Sunday, where he is expected to be indicted on multiple charges.

Durov resides in Dubai and has dual citizenship with the United Arab Emirates and France.

The arrest probably didn’t catch Durov off guard, considering he knew authorities had placed him under an arrest warrant. That said, it’s also possible that this was just a stopover which proved to be a blunder. After all, he did curtail his travels to France and Europe after the warrant was issued.