- The European Commission has distanced itself from the case
- Belgium telecom regulator BIPT has also distanced itself from the investigation
- Durov has French citizenship
The arrest and subsequent charging of Russian billionaire and Chief Executive Officer of the social messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, in France has raised questions about his alleged crimes. Durov was arrested on August 24 as he stepped down from his private jet at the Le Bourget airport north of Paris.
On August 28, he was released from police custody and charged. He has been banned from leaving France while the case goes on, and his bail has been placed above $5 million.
What laws did Telegram founder Pavel Durov break?
Now the question is, did Durov or Telegram violate any EU laws? This article will explain.
First, from reports and analysis, it is believed that Telegram did not break the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
The DSA is an EU regulation that deals with disinformation, transparent advertising, and illegal content. It aims to foster safe online environments. Although the DSA framework went into effect in November 2022, it was not fully enforced until February 17, 2024, which allowed online platforms four months to comply with the law.
Two days after Durov was arrested and tensions rose, the European Commission distanced itself from the arrest, saying his arrest was not in any way related to Telegram’s obligations under the DSA. “Criminal prosecution is not among the potential sanctions for a breach of the DSA,” the commission’s spokesperson said.
“The DSA does not define what is illegal nor does it establish any criminal offence and can therefore not be invoked for arrests. Only national [or international] laws that define a criminal offence can be invoked. We are closely monitoring the developments related to Telegram and stand ready to cooperate with the French authorities should it be relevant.”
Telegram also released a statement saying that it “abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act—its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
Photo credit: TechCrunch / CC BY 2.0 / Flickr.
In May, Telegram chose Belgium as its legal representation in the EU. This means that Belgium’s national telecom regulator BIPT will be responsible for monitoring its adherence to the DSA until it gains the Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) status in the EU.
According to the DSA, a platform gains the VLOPs status when it has more than 45 million users per month in the EU.
As of February, Telegram said it has 41 million monthly average users in the EU, despite reaching over 900 million active monthly users worldwide. This means that under the DSA, Telegram is still not a VLOP and takes it largely off the target of DSA.
Also, the Belgium telecom regulator BIPT has distanced itself from the investigation. A spokesperson of BIPT, quoted by Euronews, said: "The BIPT is neither a police authority nor a judicial authority and was therefore not involved in the criminal investigation by the French authorities.”
The big question is, if both the European Commission and BIPT have said Telegram did not break the very stringent DSA and said they are not connected to Durov’s investigation, what laws did Telegram break that led to Durov’s arrest? Technically, despite being off the radar of DSA, Telegram is subject to the laws of respective European countries.
French prosecutors have not made secret their reasons for arresting Durov. The prosecutors have insisted on their claim that Telegram violated France’s local regulations.
In a statement on preliminary charges against Durov, France's prosecutor's office claimed on August 28 that the founder of Telegram had enabled a platform that allowed for illegal transactions. Officially, the prosecutors stated that Durov could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined five hundred thousand euros ($500,000).
After his release from police custody on August 28 on bail of over $5 million, he was banned from leaving France.
French prosecutors say one of his charges is a refusal to cooperate with law enforcement and charges related to enabling child pornography. Another heavy charge is providing crypto services aiming to ensure confidentiality without certified declaration, providing a crypto tool that does not solely ensure authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration, and importing a crypto tool that ensures authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration.
Mysteries in Durov’s case in France
Apart from coming as a surprise, there are unsolved mysteries in Durov’s case. First, French President Emmanuel Macron uses Telegram.
Even though his cabinet members were formally asked to stop using the app last year, Macron has continued to use Durov’s app since the beginning of his first presidential campaign, almost ten years ago.
According to Politico, Durov and Macron met at least once in 2018, though it was not made public.
Macron has long advocated for large tech companies to locate in France. "France will be the leading nation for super-innovation, change and profound transformation," he said, a month after his 2017 election.
Additionally, Macron had in the past tried to convince Durov to move the headquarters of Telegram, currently in Dubai, to France and offered him French citizenship, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Durov is currently a French citizen, which he obtained in 2021. The French satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné reported that when Durov was arrested, he told the police that he was in France to have dinner with Macron.
As the case unfolds, no doubt, more mysteries will be uncovered. But it looks like the case will not be ending soon.
Nigeria moves to legitimise crypto, issues first operating license to indigenous exchange
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that in a significant move that could begin a new era for Nigeria’s growing crypto space, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted a provisional operating license to Quidax, an indigenous crypto exchange. The license is believed to be the first license the SEC has ever issued to an indigenous crypto exchange.
In a release quoted by Cointelegraph, the SEC granted Quidax the legal rights to operate as a registered crypto exchange in the country. Experts believe this is a significant step to legitimising the trading of crypto and other digital assets in the West African country.
