Pavel Durov Arrest: Is This a Fight Against Crime or an Attempt to Censor Telegram?

Pavel Durov was detained at Paris Le Bourget airport while leaving his private jet. The price of TON cryptocurrency fell from $6.74 to $5.64 (more than 15%) amid news of Durov’s arrest. Together with Durov there was a girl and his bodyguard. He flew to France from Azerbaijan. The French television channel TF1 reported Durov's arrest on Saturday evening from its sources.

I’d like to describe the current tensions between Telegram and EU regulators in this article. Also, I will provide a forecast about the possible consequences of this event.

What is the reason for the arrest?

In 2021, Durov received French citizenship, and he also has a UAE and St. Kitts Navis passports. He was arrested as a citizen of France for refusing to cooperate with the country's authorities. The list of charges against Durov includes abetting terrorism, child pornography, and drug sales. French prosecutors believe Telegram's refusal to cooperate supported this and other illegal activity on the platform.

At the moment, Pavel Durov is in a migration prison at Le Bourget airport, where he can be held for six days. This is the maximum period of detention in France without charge. Based on the totality of charges, Pavel Durov can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

A statement from the prosecutor's office and a press release with details of the incident are expected on Monday, 26th of August. For sure, this week, the charges against Pavel will be officially announced.

Conflict between EU authorities and Telegram

French President Emmanuel Macron hastened to declare that there was “no political motive” in Durov’s arrest. I doubt that - on the contrary, the entire history of Telegram's interaction with the European Union authorities is full of accusations and political statements.

To begin with, according to a TF1 source the purpose of the arrest is to “wean off” those who, until now, “freely exchanged messages on Telegram” while committing crimes. The channel's sources claim that EU law enforcement agencies will seek access to all correspondence into the necessary messenger.

Almost from the very moment the messenger was launched, law enforcement agencies in different EU countries had questions about it. In 2020, authorities suggested banning Telegram in Germany. In 2021, a radical anti-vaccinationist group accused of planning a crime was arrested in Saxony, and then German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann claimed that this group used Telegram to plan the murder of a local governor and called for blocking the messenger in Europe. Moreover, in 2022, it was proposed to ban Telegram in Germany because Telegram did not transfer correspondence between users to the country’s authorities.

Telegram was also actively accused of [being popular](https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/french-far-right- telegram-laundering-extremism) among supporters of right-wing parties - Front National and other movements in France. Durov knew about Telegram’s problems with the French authorities; it wasn't a secret. For instance, in 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about the possible blocking of Telegram due to its use by their protest participants.

Also, the French organization Disinfo noted cases of Telegram being used for “electoral fraud” by right-wingers during the presidential election. In December 2022, the organization released a separate report on the use of Telegram for disinformation. In June 2024, the French AP wrote about the use of Telegram to disseminate false information about the entry of French troops into Ukraine and the failure of the Olympic Games.

Other politicians also attacked messenger - Estonia Prime Minister Kaja Kallas called it “a weapon of Russian propaganda” to spread disinformation. In Spain, in March 2024, the Supreme Court banned the use of Telegram, although this decision was later reversed.

In short, Telegram in Europe is being actively used for political purposes by various groups, including radicals. So there are elements of politics here, one way or another - many officials in the EU do not like the fact that Telegram is used by opposition-minded groups of citizens. However, President Macron himself has his channel on Telegram.

How did Telegram operate legally in the EU?

As a company located outside the EU, Telegram, in accordance with the new EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into power in February 2024, had to choose a country for legal representation. Belgium became such a country. According to Euronews, the platform at this point (July 2024) had 41 million users.

A spokesperson for the Belgian regulator BIPT said that it’s impossible to regulate Telegram as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under DSA because its user numbers do not yet exceed 45 million monthly. Other large online platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook already have such VLOP status in the EU. The total number of Telegram users in the world is more than 900 million people, according to statements by the platform’s administration.

Drug Trafficking

Based on Euronews, messages from different European police offices that there is drug traffic activity in Telegram also exist. In 2020, German police carried out operations against drug dealers and illegal documents in six states of the country and claimed that criminals used Telegram to find clients. The police noted that the messenger was an alternative to the darknet.

Accusations of insufficient fight against drug trafficking were also received from other EU countries - Lithuania, Latvia, and the Netherlands in the last two years. Moreover, the Lithuanian police even created a special unit in January 2024 to combat illegal drug trafficking on Telegram. And in 2023, the Latvian police detained 78 people who were selling drugs through the messenger.

The Minister of Justice of the Netherlands spoke about problems in interaction with the platform in his letter to the country's parliament in March 2024. He believed that the messenger is obliged to fight illegal activities like other similar platforms. Instead, Telegram, according to the minister, makes interaction with the authorities difficult.

However, other messengers and platforms such as X, Whatsapp, and Signal can also be used and are surely used in illegal activities. Should their founders be imprisoned for this?

Reaction to arrest

The arrest of Pavel Durov has already been condemned as an attack on freedom of speech by Vitalik Buterin, Elon Musk, and thousands of Telegram users around the world. Despite the objective difficulties with moderating the messenger in the European Union, the arrest of its founder for this is perceived by many as political persecution. At the same time, it is completely unclear why Durov, knowing about the problems of the platform in the European Union, decided to have dinner in Paris and didn’t meet the fact local law enforcement agencies could try to detain him in France as a citizen of the country.

Perhaps Pavel was simply confident that he would not be arrested. But there is another version - Durov deliberately flew to Paris to show that he is not afraid. Moreover, as some analysts from France note, having a good lawyer in France, even if the court finds you guilty of a criminal charge, you can remain free - filing an appeal against the court decision. For example, despite the guilty verdict of the French court, former Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is still at large.

Although this version is hard to believe, given the possible problems for the messenger and its TON cryptocurrency. After all, Telegram is not currently a public company and, according to many analysts, is unprofitable. The monetization of advertising and views on channels launched in the messenger using the TON cryptocurrency changes this matter - but in general, the detention of a key team member who is responsible for communicating with investors can have negative consequences.

On the other hand, the French prosecutor's office has still not officially announced what Durov is accused of. According to TF1, the preliminary investigation was officially opened at the moment when Durov was in the air approaching France. And in Europe, known for its love of freedom, the detention of the creator of the “open platform” could become a political problem for the French authorities. This may be why the charges have not yet been officially announced.

One way or another, both the platform and TON continue to operate. So it is unlikely that even in the case of the most serious accusations against Durov, this will change, no matter what caused Pavel’s arrival in France.

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