Telegram chief's arrest raises 'red flags' for tech bosses

PARIS

Now that France has charged Telegram's founder with failing to stop illegal activity on his platform, other tech bosses may have reason to weigh the wisdom of jetting into Europe themselves.

Russia-born Pavel Durov is accused of "complicity" in running an online platform that allowed illicit transactions, child sex abuse images and other illegal content.

French lawyers told AFP it was "unprecedented" for an individual to be held criminally liable for what users chose to do on a tech platform.

Chat apps like Telegram, which boasts having more than 900 million users, were almost certainly hosting illegal content whether the bosses knew it or not, experts said. 

"It's clear that if they take this case against Pavel Durov all the way, any other platform could be threatened with the same thing," lawyer Guillaume Martine said.

However, the idea of X owner Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, whose Meta group includes Facebook and WhatsApp, being arrested in Europe remained beyond the realms of likelihood.

"I would be very surprised if any EU member state, including France, arrested Elon Musk under similar charges," Jan Penfrat of the European Digital Rights (EDRi) told AFP.

"But then again, I was also surprised that they arrested Durov."

Although comparing these platforms is superficially appealing, like its competitors, Telegram is not based in France, and Durov is an ally of Musk, there are key differences.

For one, Durov is a French citizen, making him a much likelier target in France.

But also, although Musk trumpets an extreme free-speech position, he generally complies with government takedown orders on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter.

Telegram, however, refuses on principle.

"It's true that Telegram is characterised by extremely limited cooperation, if any at all," said digital rights lawyer Alexandre Lazaregue.

"They don't respond to letters, they don't respond to summonses, they don't even have legal representation in court... Whereas Facebook, Twitter, etc still have well-known lawyers in Paris."

The particular position of Durov and Telegram suggests other tech bosses do not have anything immediately to worry about.

"It does raise a lot of red flags to see these charges, which seem random and also are just not very convincing," said Penfrat.

Lawyer Martine said it was "extremely dangerous" to try to hold Telegram accountable for the actions of its users, likening it to prosecuting Europcar for renting a vehicle to a drug trafficker.

Lazaregue concluded that the charges against Durov were pushing the legal definition of "complicity" to breaking point.

"To be convicted of complicity, you still need to be aware that a crime is happening and intend to participate in it," he said.