The “unprecedented” arrest of Russian-born Pavel Durov, founder-CEO of social media (SM) platform Telegram, in France on August 24 is likely to redefine the SM engagement of users worldwide. It will also affect the way businesses, especially IT-based services and technological innovators, now seek to protect their interests against similar actions. On September 6, in a lengthy post on X, Durov not only laid bare his platform’s principles and operational cooperation with France but also indirectly warned that Telegram’s presence in France could end.
The arrest has also raised questions about the threat of growing censorship of free speech. Often, stories that freely narrate humanitarian crises, violence against civilians and human rights violations in oppressive states and conflict zones like Ukraine, Gaza, and Myanmar can only find space on such platforms.
It’s well-known that SM has been and is being misused by extremist elements, who intend to spread hate and radicalise “gullible” users to perpetrate violence against innocent people through trolling or mob violence. Terrorist activity is only one type of violent extremist action.
Similarly, content aiding crimes such as child abuse, human trafficking, etc, are not so difficult to access even on other platforms, including on X and Instagram. Search engines such as Google, too, throw up dangerous material on a simple search.
The issue of compliance by platforms with law enforcement has become a double-edged sword. All leading platforms promise privacy of communication and users’ data protection. In fact, SM proudly markets itself on these two counts and more and more users tend to rate platforms on these parameters. Such competition explains the rise of an un-listed company like Telegram, even in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Meta (formerly Facebook, which acquired WhatsApp) given its much larger user base and robust revenue model.
Ironically, it was the global fight against the Islamic State (IS) that amplified the negative potential of SM. IS used SM for propaganda, recruitment, fundraising and perpetrating violence across the globe. Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram all became prominent during this period. All leading platforms, including Telegram, are known to have complied with law enforcement. The IS Caliphate was ultimately dismantled in March 2019 and in November, Europol carried out a two-day mission mode campaign with leading platforms, including Telegram, to purge SM of readily visible IS footprints.
Amongst users, especially digital rights activists, it is well known that Telegram practices “light oversight” over content, which has helped those living under oppressive regimes communicate safely. Telegram also allows very large group chats compared to other platforms and provides many functionalities of Facebook and WhatsApp.
Compared to super-rich promoters of leading SM companies, a majority of them based in the US, Durov’s own worth was estimated by Bloomberg to be about just $9 billion. In a recent interview, Durov said that the company was close to profitability. There has also been a buzz about Telegram planning an IPO in a year or so. Currently, Telegram is based in Dubai, which Durov, who also holds dual French-UAE citizenship, has described as “the best place for a neutral platform like ours to be in if we want to make sure we can defend our users’ privacy and freedom of speech”.
Elon Musk and Russia – why they oppose Telegram
Interestingly, criticism of the arrest has come from two opposite ends of the political spectrum. The first is from the owner of X, Elon Musk and the other from Russia. Musk, who has been accused of scaling down content moderation since the acquisition, has termed these allegations as an attempt at “censorship”. Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin has accused the US and France of putting pressure on Telegram to procure the “key” (access code to its encryption). It is interesting to recall that the March attack on the Crocus city hall in Moscow and a mob attack on Makhachkala airport in Dagestan in Russia in October 2023 both involved the use of Telegram accounts. Durov’s post on X has claimed that when Russia demanded the key and when Iran demanded to block accounts of peaceful protesters, Telegram refused and hence, was banned by both countries.
On the charges of lacking cooperation with law enforcement, Durov’s post revealed that upon request, he had personally set up a hotline for French officials with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France. In addition, he said that Telegram “takes down millions of harmful posts and channels every day” and that it publishes a daily transparency report. Durov claimed that Telegram has “a direct hotline with NGOs to process urgent moderation requests faster” — a reference to content about child abuse and other similar disturbing matters.
Without Telegram, a greater danger?
The arrest of the founder of a global market-leading service provider for illegal acts involving the service platform is a unique event. Holding him directly responsible for such acts is being contested in the French courts, which may ultimately attract fines and court orders for stricter compliance with law enforcement. For France, however, the potential end of Telegram operations would pose a bigger challenge as criminals may resort to VPN and other tools to access Telegram.
The Telegram saga highlights that the real need is to find greater convergence amongst key stakeholders, including users, to make internet communication truly safe, secure, private and abuse-free for commoners and businesses alike, while bad elements are traced and de-platformed in real-time within a transparent framework.
The writer is a security analyst and former Director General of Police
