The messaging app Telegram has stated that its CEO, Pavel Durov, who was detained in France on Saturday, has “nothing to hide.”
Officials reported that Mr. Durov was arrested at an airport north of Paris under a warrant related to the app. The investigation allegedly concerns insufficient moderation, with Mr. Durov accused of failing to take adequate measures to prevent criminal activities on Telegram.
The app is also accused of not cooperating with law enforcement regarding drug trafficking, child sexual content, and fraud.
Telegram said in a statement that “its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving”.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” the app said.
Telegram said Mr Durov travels in Europe frequently and added that it abides by European Union laws, including the Digital Services Act, which aims to ensure a safe and accountable online environment.
“Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information,” the app’s statement read.
“We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.”
Judicial sources cited by AFP news agency report that Mr. Durov’s detention was extended on Sunday and could last up to 96 hours.
Pavel Durov, 39, was born in Russia and currently resides in Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered. He holds citizenship in the United Arab Emirates and France.
Telegram enjoys significant popularity in Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Union states.
The app was banned in Russia in 2018 after Durov refused to provide user data to authorities. However, the ban was lifted in 2021.
Telegram is ranked among the leading social media platforms, following Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat.
Durov founded Telegram in 2013 and left Russia in 2014 after refusing government demands to shut down opposition communities on his social media platform VKontakte, which he later sold.
Russia still regards Mr Durov as a Russian citizen. Its foreign ministry said the Russian embassy to France had “immediately taken the steps required in such cases to clarify the situation around the Russian citizen, despite not having received a request from the businessman’s representatives”.
Then embassy itself said it was seeking to “clarify the reasons for the detention and to provide for the protection of Mr Durov’s rights and facilitate consular access”.
It added that the French authorities had not been co-operating with Russian officials.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted on Telegram asking whether Western human rights NGOs would be silent on Mr Durov’s arrest, after they criticised Russia’s decision to “create obstacles” to the work of Telegram in Russia in 2018.
Telegram allows groups of up to 200,000 members, which critics have argued makes it easier for misinformation to spread, and for users to share conspiracist, neo-Nazi, paedophilic, or terror-related content.
In the UK, the app was scrutinised for hosting far-right channels that were instrumental in organising the violent disorder in English cities earlier this month.
Telegram did remove some groups, but overall its system of moderating extremist and illegal content is significantly weaker than that of other social media companies and messenger apps, say cybersecurity experts.