The founders, governments or users?
Warm and welcoming aren’t the words people typically use to describe the French—if you’ve scrolled enough on Instagram and watched Emily in Paris, you know (though, to digress a little bit, the problems in Emily in Paris might be the protagonist herself). Nonetheless, beautiful architecture, great food and bulldogs—that’s French.
When you travel to France, your itinerary would include the usual suspects: The Eiffel Tower, bakeries, the L’Arc de Triomphe and maybe even the Seine—the inaugural waters of the Olympics 2024. For one traveler, however, the trip was less conventional.
Pavel Durov, the founder of online messaging app Telegram, found himself under arrest upon landing in France via his private jet. Instead of a delicious baguette, he was greeted with an arrest warrant for his failure to curb criminal activities on his platform (take more holidays, they said).
Here, we look at why Durov was arrested, the case for free speech and the future of Telegram.
Why was Durov arrested?
Durov’s arrest came as part of a preliminary police investigation. He’s accused of allowing crimes to flourish on Telegram due to insufficient moderation and a lack of cooperation with law enforcement. French President Emmanuel Macron said the arrest was not politically driven, despite some speculating otherwise.
Authorities are investigating a broad spectrum of crimes facilitated through the platform, from drug trafficking, child pornography and cyberbullying to terrorism and organized crime. For a platform with 950 million users, this is a big problem. However, it’s nothing new. For years now, Telegram has been somewhat of an iteration of the “dark web” since it does not advocate for censoring content—a double-edged sword.
It’s also worth noting that this isn’t Durov’s first clash with authorities. After refusing to shut down opposition groups on his VKontakte (VK) platform, Durov founded Telegram while based in Dubai. He sold VK in January 2014 and left Russia later that year.
His recent arrest puts the spotlight back on the debates surrounding online content regulation. How much free speech is too much? Who gets to decide, and should that even be up for debate? X’s CEO Elon Musk, whose content moderation stance is much aligned, chimed in with a tweet: “#FreePavel”, adding, “It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme.”
Who is to blame for crime on a platform?
By virtue of being a founder of a social platform, you inherit certain liabilities. One is the unpredictable behavior of your platform’s users. For instance, you might find that one of your users is a mafia boss. However, there are barely any ways to know beforehand. Imagine asking every new Pinterest user: “Have you engaged in criminal activity recently?” Few would take this question seriously, and fewer would answer it honestly.
In response to its founder’s arrest, Telegram released a statement saying, “Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.” Leonid Volkov, formerly a top adviser to Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, echoed the sentiment. He noted that though Telegram was popular among criminals, “Durov is not an ‘accomplice’ to the crimes committed by Telegram users.”
This situation highlights the complex roles governments and users themselves must play in monitoring online activity. However, this does not mean the founders are absolved of all responsibility.
The release of a social media app binds you to societal expectations. Critics, including security experts, argue that Telegram’s encryption is insufficient. Disinformation analysts also contend that the platform’s minimal moderation has made it a breeding ground for terrorist propaganda and far-right extremism.
Natalia Krapiva, a lawyer at the digital rights group Access Now, summarized both sides of the argument: “We have defended Telegram against attempts by authoritarian regimes to block and coerce the platform into providing encryption keys, but we have also been raising alarms about Telegram’s lack of human rights policies, reliable channel of communication and remedy for its users.”
This is not an isolated case. Not long ago, Meta fought a similar battle in court when it was called out for not doing enough to ensure child safety. However, even then, a similar school of thought emerged—was Zuckerberg alone to blame? Maybe not.
With Durov’s arrest, many are wondering if this would finally push Telegram to change its policies. In the short term, however, since Durov has a very hands-on leadership approach, executives have expressed concern about what’s next—a question perhaps Durov is battling, too.
Also read:
- What Did Mark Zuckerberg Apologize For, and the Debate That Followed—Big Tech on Trial
- What Is Social Media Doing to Our Brains?
- Should Social Media Platforms Be under Regulation?
Header Image from Wikimedia Commons
