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Telegram CEO Arrested in France Over Content Moderation Issues

hmm. he went there *by mistake*, right. maybe he just *forgot* France has an arrest warrant on him.
or he wanted protection from the Kremlin, which issued a request to get access to him right after he was arrested? spending 20 years in jail can be better than spending the rest of your life as dead.
 
Regardless of any person’s opinion on any one law, it is the law. There are proper avenues to dispute laws, but in the meantime, you should follow that law, don't do business there, or expect and be willing to face the consequences associated with that law.
 
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swm said:
hmm. he went there *by mistake*, right. maybe he just *forgot* France has an arrest warrant on him.
or he wanted protection from the Kremlin, which issued a request to get access to him right after he was arrested? spending 20 years in jail can be better than spending the rest of your life as dead.
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I understand what trying to say, but how you say it tickles my funny bone.

He could spend a few years dead for tax purposes.😉
 
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He is the CEO of a company who is alleged to have turned a blind eye to criminal activity and law breaking taking place. He has ignored EU instructions to get his company in order and as a result France issued a warrant for his arrest due criminal activity taking place with in the EU.

His arrogance is what got him arrested, believing as a tech CEO of one of the worlds most popular messaging platforms that he was untouchable. When the EU tells you you have to follow the rule of law if you want to operate in the EU then you do it. Failure to do so can and will get you arrested.

What the EU has done is a warning to ALL tech CEO's, ignore the EU's rule of law at your peril because if you do, you will be arrested.
 
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laptech said:
When the EU tells you you have to follow the rule of law if you want to operate in the EU then you do it. Failure to do so can and will get you arrested.
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This is how it should be though, no? I don't think anyone should be above the law - not you or I or Cook or Durov.

MilaM said:
Try to say something nasty about another user here on MacRumors and see how far freedom of speech goes. Public channels need moderation.
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Freedom of speech thankfully is not the freedom from consequences of your speech.
 
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HylianKnight said:
Not a great example since a parking lot for a store is unlikely to be public property. If someone gets mugged in a parking lot at night, or people are falling due to poor lighting, and the owner knew about the conditions and failed to address them, then they may be held liable. Premises Liability in the states.
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I think you and the other guy are missing the point.
Most small businesses are LLC. Big company’s tend to be stock based. I know there needs to be more accountability from executives, but arresting a CEO cause they won’t moderate “public” groups on their platform is IMO stupid. Get your drug and crime departments to join those spaces and go after those idiots.

Edit: last I checked, if you moderate these groups they just go somewhere else. The crimes are still going to happen.
 
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jimbobb24 said:
Imagine fleeing from totalitarian Russia to get arrested by the totalitarian EU.
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He didn't flee Russia.. he chose to leave, because he didn't like the requested interference. But Russia wasn't the one to arrest him, they merely let him go. He said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that the worst (least free) environment he found was in the US.
 
555gallardo said:
European here.

Although I disagree with lots of things that the EU does, this one is particularly great to hear because of how Telegram is used by Russian propaganda, as well as often used by various criminals such as drug dealers, pedophiles and others. Heck, I would even say that ordering a hitman is as easy as ordering a pizza from your favorite chain. So, basically, everything you should expect on the dark web, is freely available on the App Store, even to kids, while "respecting" free speech in an even bigger degree than post-Musk Twitter.

Not to mention the company is somehow affiliated with Putin's regime and ignores law.
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IF the issue really is distributing child pornography then it's a hard one. As far as free speech goes .... there are no limits. But criminality is a different issue.
 
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mark34 said:
He said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that the worst (least free) environment he found was in the US.
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This is a sentiment I see a bit often, and do find it valid, but to see that it comes from a Tucker Carlson interview out of all things is just dreadful and a sad state of affairs.
 
WarmWinterHat said:
Never used or even downloaded Telegram, and don't know anyone that uses it. What's the advantage over an app like Signal?

As for this story; he is a French citizen, arrested in France, for violating French law. I don't see the issue?
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It has by far the best user interface of all of its competitors. Works very well across all devices.
 
MacRumors said:
The arrest occurred shortly after Durov arrived on a private jet from Azerbaijan and is said to be part of a joint investigation by several agencies investigating alleged failures in content moderation on the Telegram platform that may have facilitated criminal activity.
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MacRumors said:
with the foreign ministry demanding consular access to Durov, who holds dual French and UAE citizenship.
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Would not be surprised if the arrest was political solely to put pressure on Russia and Ukraine war. France and EU won’t release him anytime soon. In fact, like Russia has been doing with their foreign prisoner, they are likely going to use him as bargaining chip.

Sorry to get too political but this is part of broader plan by EU and NATO allies to start going closer to the jugular on Russia: anyone with ties to Russian government will be detained and tried for treason.
 
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MacRumors said:


Pavel Durov, the 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris late Saturday evening. The arrest occurred shortly after Durov arrived on a private jet from Azerbaijan and is said to be part of a joint investigation by several agencies investigating alleged failures in content moderation on the Telegram platform that may have facilitated criminal activity.

telegram-app-icon.jpg

According to sources who spoke to Reuters, French authorities had spotted Durov on the passenger list and moved to arrest him due to an existing warrant. Several French TV reports said that authorities have been investigating Telegram's alleged moderation failures, which they believe may have facilitated a range of illegal activities, including terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, and child exploitation.

Telegram, which is based in Dubai, responded to Durov's arrest by stating that the company "abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act" and that its moderation practices are "within industry standards and constantly improving." The company emphasized that Durov "has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe," calling it "absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform."

The arrest has drawn criticism from various quarters, including X (Twitter) owner Elon Musk, who has posted the hashtag "#FreePavel" on the platform, and has previously claimed that free speech is under attack in Europe. Russian officials have also expressed their concern, with the foreign ministry demanding consular access to Durov, who holds dual French and UAE citizenship.

Durov, often referred to as the "Russian Mark Zuckerberg," founded Telegram in 2013 after leaving Russia due to conflicts with authorities over his refusal to shut down opposition communities on his previous social media platform, VK. In 2018, Russia began blocking Telegram after the app refused to grant state security services access to users' messages, but the ban was lifted in 2020 when Telegram agreed to help with "extremism investigations." Telegram has since grown to nearly 1 billion users and has become a crucial communication tool, particularly in Ukraine since Russia's invasion in 2022.

The Telegram chief's arrest has also put Telegram's encryption practices under the spotlight again. Despite being widely described as an "encrypted messaging app," Telegram's default settings for most users do not provide end-to-end encryption. Unlike WhatsApp and Signal, one-on-one chats are not encrypted by default, and group chats are never encrypted. This means that Telegram staff potentially have access to every message sent in these chats, which may be why Russia is so concerned about the arrest.

For users seeking true end-to-end encryption on Telegram, it must be manually configured as a "secret chat," a process that is not all that straightforward. Not only that, these "secret" group chats are limited to only two users, which raises questions about the platform's efforts to protect user privacy.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Telegram CEO Arrested in France Over Content Moderation Issues
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"Telegram, which is based in Dubai" But the servers are in Russia - and accessible by Putin, FSB, Smerch, Boris & Natasha, et. al. - anyone that can read plain text.
 
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People somehow fail to ask questions.

Just think: how can something big that has servers all over the world do all the R&D and stuff for free. Are we living in communism or what? Real Mark Zuckerberg had been doing business out of communications for ages, he never gave a cent for free. Because it is well… business! It cannot function without money.

You cannot get a free coffee at your shop, neither Apple does not give iPhones for free. If something is free – you are the product. And when I use Meta products I at least know WHAT exactly is the price (i.e. my data that is sold to advertisers) because it us explicitly written in the EULA. Also I know that Meta abides by the law of the United States of America. By which laws does Telegram work, Emirates? The same country where women are considered “men property”? As well as Russian ties have not been completely cut, I seen a story where it was said that their development office is still in St. Petersburg.

Another problem is while Telegram is marketed as something “safe”, it isn’t. All the messages are first uploaded to servers and then shared among the connected devices, it is all server-based (except for the secret chats)
 
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