Just over 2 weeks ago, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France over a litany of charges concerning illegal content hosted on his messaging platform has spotlighted the age-old issue of free speech once again. Free speech champions, libertarians and even the Russian government have loudly cried foul over what was seen as an unprecedented attempt to hold a platform’s executive personally responsible for its contents. Finally breaking his silence on September 6, Durov insists that the French authorities took a “misguided approach” and denied that Telegram is an “anarchic paradise” in which cybercrime flourishes. At present, Durov is out on €5 million bail and barred from leaving France as part of a wider probe into child sex abuse on Telegram. What exactly has led to this development and what other implications could be in store for Telegram in context of the EU Digital Services Act?
Durov faces a long list of charges that stem from allegedly facilitating criminal activity on Telegram.
Image Credits: Gulf Business
The Story of Telegram
Founded by the Durov brothers (elder brother Nikolai is also wanted by the French authorities) in 2013, Telegram has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years as millions of users have flocked to the app, attracted by its unrelenting stance against any form of censorship. Information can also be disseminated to a significantly larger audience - groups can have up to 200,000 members while channels can be broadcast to an unlimited number of subscribers. Its ease of use has helped Telegram play a crucial role in coordinating protests and civil disobedience movements across the globe from Iran to Belarus. In addition, it has also emerged as the platform of choice for both sides of the Russian-Ukraine War. Numerous Russian war bloggers offer unfiltered access to live updates for ordinary Russians, free from Kremlin influence on how to broach the subject of the “special military operation”. Scores of Ukrainians too rely on regular posts by Ukrainian government institutions especially for time-sensitive information such as imminent drone and missile strikes.
However, Telegram is also notorious for its hand-off approach when it comes to policing illicit content on its platform. On its FAQ page, Telegram has prominently highlighted that it “has disclosed 0 bytes of user data to third parties, including governments”. While headquartered in Dubai, Telegram operates a network of shell companies scattered worldwide, all part of its ploy to frustrate demands by law enforcement for user data. Unsurprisingly, such an approach has frequently put Durov at loggerheads with various law enforcement agencies and governments. In fact, Telegram was slapped with a €5.125 million fine by German regulators in 2022 who accused the platform of facilitating hate speech in violation of German law. A year later, Singapore revealed that Telegram was “unresponsive” to local police take-down requests regarding sexually explicit content (Channel NewsAsia 2023). With an almost complete absence of content moderation, Telegram has naturally become a haven for criminals and extremists alike - the platform has been used to disseminate child sex abuse material (CSAM), facilitate drug deals and glorify violent acts. Contrary to popular belief, Telegram is not fully end-to-end encrypted unlike its competitors WhatsApp and Signal. Apart from its “secret chats” feature enabled between individual users, most Telegram messages are only server-side encrypted. In other words, Durov certainly has every capability to decrypt messages and share user data with prosecutors. While X was (and still is) known for hosting hate speech, revenge porn and similarly illicit content, it has at least maintained a facade of compliance with a team of employees dedicated to content moderation. In contrast, no such feature exists at Telegram which maintains merely a few dozen employees as of 2024.
Moving forward, Durov seems to have somewhat softened his tone in the days after his release on bail, a marked change from his initial show of defiance. A recent update to Telegram’s FAQ page includes language that describes a mechanism that allows private chat participants to report content to Telegram moderators. While details are still scant, Durov has also promised “changes” to Telegram in the future, perhaps signaling that his platform has moved past the dark days of hosting just about anything. After all, Durov has more on his plate to be concerned about: compliance with EU’s Digital Services Act. So far, Telegram has avoided the designation of a Very Large Online Platform under the DSA by reporting 41 million EU users (just under the threshold of 45 million monthly users) when the law came into effect a year ago. However, the platform is already on the radar of Belgium regulators: in late August 2024, Brussels opened an investigation into whether Telegram deliberately understated its user numbers in order to avoid meeting significantly stricter regulatory requirements stipulated by the European Commission. If Telegram meets the definition of a Very Large Online Platform - and Belgium has emphasized that it has the right to “unilaterally designate” Telegram as one “on the basis of its investigation”, its founder can be held personally liable under certain provisions of the DSA as well.
Increasingly, regulators around the world have drawn the line between embracing Western ideals of free speech and turning a blind eye to online platforms hosting a plethora of illegal content. Durov certainly cannot continue living in blissful ignorance while Telegram, under the guise of free speech, remains the preferred town square for criminals.
References
Al Jazeera. (2024, September 6). Telegram CEO Pavel Durov hits out at 'misguided' arrest. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/9/6/telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-hits-out-at-misguided-arrest
Anderson, T. (2024, September 6). EU builds case to place Telegram under stricter content scrutiny. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-06/eu-builds-case-to-place-telegram-under-stricter-content-scrutiny
Boudet, J. (2024, September 6). France arrests Telegram founder Pavel Durov. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/france-telegram-pavel-durov-arrest-6e213d227458f330ed16e7fe221a696c
Politico. (2024, September 6). Exclusive: Telegram CEO's brother Nikolai Durov wanted by French authorities, Pavel Durov says. https://www.politico.eu/article/exclusive-telegram-ceo-brother-nikolai-durov-wanted-france-authorities-pavel-durov/
Telegram. (2024). Terms of service: European Union - Digital Services Act (DSA). https://telegram.org/tos/eu-dsa
Vincent, J. (2024, September 5). Telegram's Pavel Durov arrested; private chats and moderation policy change. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/5/24237254/telegram-pavel-durov-arrest-private-chats-moderation-policy-change