Telegram Messenger, widely known as Telegram, is a cross-platform instant messaging and social media network founded by Nikolai and Pavel Durov. It allows users to exchange messages, share files and media, hold live streams, post stories, and have private or group voice or video calls. One of its most important features is “Secret Chats,” which allows for end-to-end encryption in voice and video calls, as well as optional private chats. The platform is currently available for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and web browsers. Telegram’s headquarters are currently in Dubai, UAE, but its servers are distributed worldwide with several data centers. Telegram is the most widely used instant messaging app in parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. As of July 2024, Telegram has over 950 million monthly active users, with India leading the way. It was the most popular app worldwide in January 2021, with 1 billion downloads as of late August 2021.
There are several key differences between Telegram and WhatsApp. Telegram requires no SIM card to log in, offers limitless storage, can be accessed through any browser, allows for channels containing up to 200 thousand users, and has a secret chat feature that allows users to set a timer for when they want their messages to be deleted. Pavel stated once in an interview with Tucker Carlson that people "love the independence. They also love the privacy, the freedom; (there are) a lot of reasons why somebody would switch to Telegram." All these features together allowed Telegram to be more widely used than WhatsApp in several countries, such as Russia.
Telegram is not the first messaging application found by the Durov brothers. They first jumped to fame in Russia with their former app, “VKontakte.” However, after getting into trouble with the Kremlin for refusing to hand over the users’ data to the Russian security services (FSB), they sold out of the company and left Russia in 2014. While hopping from country to country, they started working on Telegram, which quickly gained momentum but also faced criticism because of its non-existent control over extreme content. With self-deleting messages and channels containing thousands of users, moderating content or getting in front of misinformation is not easy, but it seems like the brothers are doing it voluntarily. Pavel, a self-proclaimed libertarian, has advocated for online privacy and messaging encryption and defiantly refused to allow the moderation of messages on Telegram. After relocating to Dubai, which Durov called “the best place for a neutral platform like ours to be in if we want to make sure we can defend our users’ privacy and freedom of speech” in an interview with Tucker Carlson, he obtained citizenship from the Caribbean island chain of Saint Kitts and Nevis. In August 2021, he obtained French nationality following a low-key process that Paris is still keeping under wraps. Through these changes, Telegram continued to advertise itself as an advocate of individual freedom, protecting users’ confidentiality and
refusing censorship. This led Pavel to once again get into hot water with the Russian government. In 2018, a Moscow court ordered the blocking of the application, but the imposition of the measure was met with great hate, as three days after the order, protestors flooded the FBS headquarters with paper planes, which is the logo of Telegram. Since then, Russia has given up trying to block Telegram, and both the opposition and the government of Russia use the messaging app.
However, this wasn’t the end of the Telegram controversy since Pavel was targeted for his refusal to apply censorship again. For offenses allegedly committed on Telegram, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, and organized crime, including the promotion of fraud and terrorism, France issued an arrest warrant for Pavel. Investigations have been assigned to the cyber unit of the French gendarmerie and the national anti-fraud office. In contrast to the warrant, Telegram is widely used in France, including by some officials in the presidential palace and in the ministry behind the investigation.
Governments have often criticized Telegram for its lack of content moderation. David Thiel, a Stanford University researcher who has investigated the use of online platforms for child exploitation, has stated that compared to other messaging platforms, Telegram is “less secure (and) more lax in terms of policy and detection of illegal content.” In addition, he mentioned Telegram appearing “basically unresponsive to law enforcement,” adding that WhatsApp “submitted over 1.3 million CyberTipline reports in 2023 (and) Telegram submits none.”
In 2022, the German Federal Office of Justice stated that Telegram FZ-LLC hadn’t established a lawful way for reporting illegal content or named an entity in Germany to receive official communication, leading to a 5.125 million euro fine against Telegram for failing to follow German laws.
Another example was seen last year in Brazil when Telegram was temporarily suspended for its determination to not surrender data about neo-Nazi activity associated with a police inquiry into school shootings in November.
Last weekend, Pavel was arrested in Paris. On Saturday, after flying from Azerbaijan to the Paris-Le Bourget Airport in France, he was taken into custody. After the incident, a statement was posted on Telegram, saying the platform abides by EU laws and its content moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving.” It was added that Durov “has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.”
The Paris prosecutor's office stated that Durov was being held in France as part of a judicial investigation that was initiated last month and involved 12 suspected criminal offenses, including complicity in selling child sexual abuse material and in drug trafficking, fraud, abetting organized crime transactions, and refusing to share information or documents with investigators when required by law. He was placed in custody for the maximum amount of time someone can be held under French law before being charged, which is 96 hours. On August 28, he was released pending trial.
Russian government officials have expressed frustration over the arrest; some have labeled it as politically motivated and evidence of the West's double standard for free speech. However, this raised eyebrows since, as mentioned before, Russia also tried to suspend Telegram in 2018. Pavel was also supported by Elon Musk, the owner of X and a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”, with his “#freePavel” post.
Pavel Durov’s recent arrest in Paris highlights the ongoing tensions between advocacy for free speech and the obligations of platform operators to manage harmful content.