INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
French-Russian tech billionaire Pavel Durov is to appear in court on Sunday after being arrested at a Paris airport for offenses related to
his popular Telegram messaging app, sources told AFP.France had reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Durov in a preliminary investigation
into alleged offenses including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime and promotion of terrorism.The detention has sparked
a debate over Telegram's lax content moderation policies and whether France has the right to crack down on what some observers see as free
speech in the name of law enforcement and anti-terrorism efforts.Telegram allows groups of up to 200,000 members, which has led to
accusations that it makes it easier for false information to spread virally, as well as for users to disseminate neo-Nazi, pedophilic,
conspiratorial and terrorist content.By basing itself in the United Arab Emirates, which Durov praised for its business environment and
"neutrality," Telegram has shielded itself from moderation laws, he said.The Moscow Times has collected reactions from Russian and Western
detention, the Russian Embassy in France immediately took the necessary steps to clarify the situation regarding the Russian citizen,
This is not the first instance
Previous cases have shown the worst side of the West's so-called championing of human rights." Zakharova said in an interview to the state
broadcaster Rossiya 24.She pointed to what she sees as double standards from Western organizations when Russia pressured Telegram to
cooperate and then blocked Telegram in 2018 for its alleged refusal to provide the Federal Security Service (FSB) with backdoor access to
encrypted messages."It was a campaign to pressure Russia, primarily to discredit it..
be a tool to gain access to personal information of Telegram users
Yet, for some reason, no one is arresting or imprisoning their owners
This suggests that his arrest is indeed connected to his refusal to cooperate with the authorities
are coming from Russian propaganda
I am surprised and deeply saddened that [French President] Emmanuel Macron has descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for
gaining access to private communications
Durov earlier this year.AFP contributed reporting.
