Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Released From Prison

Pavel Durov, the apical enforcement astatine Telegram, has been released from constabulary custody successful France. He’s not disconnected the hook yet, however. Durov volition soon look successful tribunal to reply for a fig of alleged crimes related to his fashionable messaging platform.

“An investigating justice has ended Pavel Durov’s constabulary custody and volition person him brought to tribunal for a archetypal quality and a imaginable indictment,” the Paris prosecutor’s bureau said successful a connection shared with the Associated Press.

French authorities took Pavel into custody connected Saturday. The authorities has said that his level is being utilized to facilitate transgression activity—namely, cause trafficking and the dispersed of kid intersexual maltreatment material. While galore ample net sites person struggled with the proliferation of cause enactment (Meta and Snapchat) and kid maltreatment worldly (see: Meta, X, and Mastodon, for example), French authorities assertion that Durov has refused to stock accusation with investigators astir these issues, contempt the information that helium is legally required to.

Durov, who was calved successful Russia, maintains French citizenship. He was arrested astatine a Paris airdrome aft flying into the state connected his backstage jet. Telegram itself is headquartered successful the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. conservatives (like Elon Musk) have tried to marque Pavel’s apprehension into a “free speech” contented but the quality of the lawsuit isn’t yet afloat known to the public. Meanwhile, Telegram has tried to discredit French authorities. “It is absurd to assertion that a level oregon its proprietor are liable for maltreatment of that platform,” a station shared connected Telegram states, per AP. “Almost a cardinal users globally usage Telegram arsenic means of connection and arsenic a root of captious information. We’re awaiting a punctual solution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.”

Police are besides presently looking for Durov’s brother, Nikolai, who is the co-founder of Telegram. It is unclear wherever Nikolai is presently located, Politico reports. The French government’s probe into Telegram has been months successful the making, the outlet notes.

Telegram touts itself arsenic a backstage messenger but cryptography experts person agelong criticized the platform, arguing that its lack of default end-to-end encryption makes it a mediocre prime if you’re looking to support your conversations private. If you privation E2E connected Telegram, you person to crook connected a peculiar diagnostic for idiosyncratic chats. E2E isn’t disposable astatine each for radical chats, meaning that the quality to person genuinely backstage conversations of a caliber provided by WhatsApp oregon Signal is retired of the question.