Pavel Durov, the creator and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was jailed in Paris over the weekend over accusations that his platform is being utilized for illegal activity such as drug trafficking and the circulation of kid sexual abuse images.
Durov, who was born in Russia, invested much of his youth in Italy and is a person of France, Russia, the Caribbean island country of St. Kitts and Nevis and the United Arab Emirates. He was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget Airport in France on Saturday after landing from Azerbaijan.
In a declaration published to its platform, Telegram stated it abides by EU laws and its material smallamounts is “within market requirements and continuously enhancing.” Durov, the business included, “has absolutelynothing to conceal and takesatrip often in Europe.”
Here are some information on Telegram, the app at the center of Durov’s arrest.
Telegram is an app that permits for individually discussions, group talks and big “channels” that let individuals broadcast messages to customers. Unlike competitors such as Meta’s WhatsApp, Telegram’s group talks enable as lotsof as 200,000 individuals, compared to a optimum of 1,024 for WhatsApp. Experts haveactually raised issues that falseinformation spreads quickly in group talks of this size.
Telegram uses fileencryption for their interactions, however — contrary to a popular misunderstanding — this function is not on by default. Users have to switch on the alternative to secure their talks. It likewise doesn’t work with group talks. That contrasts with competitor Signal and Facebook Messenger, where talks are encrypted end-to-end by default.
Telegram states it has more than 950 million active users. It is commonly utilized in France as a messaging tool, consistingof by some authorities in the governmental palace and in the ministry behind the examination into Durov. But French privateinvestigators have likewise discovered the app hasactually been utilized by Islamic extremists and drug traffickers.
Telegram was released in 2013 by Durov and his bro Nikolai. According to Telegram, Pavel Durov supports the app “financially and ideologically while Nikolai’s input is technological.”
Before Telegram, Durov established VKontakte, Russia’s biggest social network. The business came under pressure amidst the Russian federalgovernment’s crackdown after mass pro-democracy demonstrations rocked Moscow at the end of 2011 and2012 Durov stated federalgovernment authorities required that the VKontakte take down the online neighborhoods of Russian opposition activists. It lateron asked the platform to hand over the individual information of users who took part in the 2013 uprising in Ukraine, which ultimately ousted a pro-Kremlin president.
But Durov offered his stake in VKontakte after pr