Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France a few days ago when he landed at Le Bourget Airport. Now he has been charged with multiple criminal offenses and has been forbidden from leaving France after being released following a €5 million Euro bail (over $5.5 million).
The entire case has been quite the controversy. French authorities have claimed that Telegram is very loosely moderated, resulting in a number of criminal activities taking place on the platform. Durov has also been accused of refusing to cooperate with said authorities.
Pavel Durov maintains that he will always favor freedom of speech, and has thus let Telegram run wild. His commitment to freedom is so strict that he left Russia, where he originates from, after refusing to hand over user data to the local authorities. As such, following his arrest in France downloads for Telegram soared through the roof, bringing it to second place among social apps on the App Store.
Image credit — PhoneArena
The charges levied against Durov include “enabling illegal transactions”. Though Durov is out and about on the aforementioned bail, he remains under supervision.
There’s two groups of people on either side of the fence regarding this entire fiasco. One side alleges that Durov has no obligation to restrict speech on his platform, and that this is another ploy to implement online surveillance. The other claims that Durov is in the wrong for having willingly allowed vile communities to form on Telegram.
This case has gained so much popularity that even Russia pledged assistance to Durov. Telegram has released a statement as well: saying that the charges being thrown against Durov were “absurd”.
It’s a hodgepodge of a case, with both sides giving some strong arguments. And I doubt this is the last we’ll hear of Telegram’s lax moderation policies.
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Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.
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