In the last days of August the world was scandalised with the news that Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram messenger, was arrested in Paris with multiple accusations including refusal to cooperate with the law enforcement, child pornography distribution and participation in organised criminal activity.
Confusion was spread in the global community: liberal-spirited France is to seize the freedom of speech, while censoring and conservative Russia defends their descendant in spite of declaring the same accusations six years prior. What political status do Telegram and Durov himself hold and who has had a problem with it over the years?
“If you’re a bad guy, that’s where you will land,”
– Rebecca Weiner, New York Police Department
An Ultimate Free Agent
Telegram was released on August 14, 2013 as a free messenger, founded by Pavel Durov and his brother Nicolay. Durov first thought of creating a secure messaging service in 2011. As a leader of a Russian social media VK at the time, he felt the growing pressure from the government and aspired to make an international platform free from external influence.
In 2015 the company introduced “public channels”, allowing users to send information anonymously to an unlimited number of followers. Political and news reporting channels were created immediately across the world presenting an alternative to the official media.
After the Russian government introduced so-called Yarovaya’s law in 2016, mobile providers were supposed to keep and disclose upon request the chat history and various information about their users including passport number and list of family members. Messengers had to be registered as an information distributor, identify their users and transmit the encryption keys to the Federal Security Service.
In 2015 the company introduced “public channels”, allowing users to send information anonymously to an unlimited number of followers. Political and news reporting channels were created immediately across the world presenting an alternative to the official media.
After the Russian government introduced so-called Yarovaya’s law in 2016, mobile providers were supposed to keep and disclose upon request the chat history and various information about their users including passport number and list of family members. Messengers had to be registered as an information distributor, identify their users and transmit the encryption keys to the Federal Security Service.
Telegram’s office agreed to be registered but not to share the keys. They appealed to the company’s policy that the encryption keys could not be transmitted to any third parties including the law enforcement. In 2017 Durov was directly requested to transmit the keys, which he declined to do. It was further revealed that the request concerned a deadly terrorist attack in St.Petersburg, which according to FSS was coordinated via Telegram. Security service filed a lawsuit against Telegram and after over a year long litigation, on April 16, 2018 communications providers were demanded to start banning the messenger in Russia.
Causing temporary inconvenience for users, the banning was easy to overcome by using VPN or proxy-services. Across the country many people expressed protest against the government's action and continued using the app considering it to be “safe” from the authorities’ eye. Now the failure to demolish the messenger seems to be ignored, as the Russian officials post on their Telegram channels and attempt to defend Durov in a debate with French law enforcement.
Causing temporary inconvenience for users, the banning was easy to overcome by using VPN or proxy-services. Across the country many people expressed protest against the government's action and continued using the app considering it to be “safe” from the authorities’ eye. Now the failure to demolish the messenger seems to be ignored, as the Russian officials post on their Telegram channels and attempt to defend Durov in a debate with French law enforcement.
Banning particular channels or the app in general was executed at certain points in Belarus, Iran, Brazil, Hong Kong and other countries. Among the reasons are distribution of pornography, advertising of gambling, hate speech and protests coordination.
The confidentiality of correspondence in “secret chats”, ensured by end-to-end encryption and tools such as self-deleting messages, bots and “super-groups” up to 200 thousand users, made Telegram an attractive platform for terrorists and attackers, as well as for political activists - both supporters of radical ideas and liberal oppositionists in authoritarian regimes.
The confidentiality of correspondence in “secret chats”, ensured by end-to-end encryption and tools such as self-deleting messages, bots and “super-groups” up to 200 thousand users, made Telegram an attractive platform for terrorists and attackers, as well as for political activists - both supporters of radical ideas and liberal oppositionists in authoritarian regimes.
“Were it entirely up to us, we would always give the users what they ask for: access to uncensored information and opinions so that they can make their own decisions”
– Pavel Durov
Hamas broadcast its Oct. 7 attack on Israel
on Telegram
on Telegram
No Filters
Telegram is often criticised for its strict policy against collaborating with the government. It is stated that the company will only disclose the users personal information like IP-address and phone number when presented with a conviction of them participating in terrorist activity. It is hardly convenient for the states that as the number of international users of Telegram has reached 950 millions, making it the fourth most popular messenger in the world, they lack access to the user information. For instance, Whatsapp, which happens to be the first most popular, was proven to be open for secret services to explore.
Since 2022 in Russia this phenomenon has become particularly visible. When the functioning of the main illegal drug distributing platform was discontinued, many new marketplaces emerged. They were mostly using Telegram chats, bots and channels to distribute and advertise the products. Aiming to find new clients they started to sponsor bloggers on Telegram showcasing drug abuse. Hundreds of thousands of followers watched young people buy and use substances, party and suffer from psychosis. Propaganda of drug using and distribution is officially forbidden in Russia, nevertheless this lifestyle was rather celebrated on these channels.
The office of Telegram denies the lack of moderation in this regard. Their press team member Remi Vaughn claims upon our request: “Telegram's moderation team uses a combination of proactive monitoring of public spaces and user reports to remove publicly-available content promoting the sale of drugs. Thousands of such groups and channels are removed each month.” The most popular influencers in this field had their channels removed several times and now many of them stopped their activity due to legal or health problems.
The office of Telegram denies the lack of moderation in this regard. Their press team member Remi Vaughn claims upon our request: “Telegram's moderation team uses a combination of proactive monitoring of public spaces and user reports to remove publicly-available content promoting the sale of drugs. Thousands of such groups and channels are removed each month.” The most popular influencers in this field had their channels removed several times and now many of them stopped their activity due to legal or health problems.
Unlimited access to the messages can be just as intrusive and restraining for society as it is helpful for criminal investigation, when chats are monitored outside of the subject of national security danger. Telegram has played a huge role in Belarus politics during the civilian protests before the president Lukashenko was reelected in 2020. It provided a crucial source of information, supported a public space for people to discuss political issues freely and helped organisers mobilise large crowds for peaceful protests. Local authorities could not intrude on the app activity therefore they started hunting down the emerging opposition leaders like Roman Pratasevich.
The practice of satisfied police requests is not new to the Telegram. Durov stated in his channel that in the first half of the year they have answered over four thousands of requests in India, where most of their users are dislocated, as well as other countries.
The practice of satisfied police requests is not new to the Telegram. Durov stated in his channel that in the first half of the year they have answered over four thousands of requests in India, where most of their users are dislocated, as well as other countries.
Durov aspires to maintain Telegram as an independent, liberal platform, where no voice is suppressed. “Telegram was built to protect activists and ordinary people from corrupt governments and corporations — we do not allow criminals to abuse our platform or evade justice,” – he writes in his channel. Telegram has played a prominent role in pro-democracy movements in Russia, Belarus, Iran and Hong Kong. However, freedom from moderation seems to be coming at the expense of spreading marginal content including the retail of drugs and arms, pornography, depiction of drug abuse, violence and death, and even in democratic countries patience with the company is wearing thin.
Turning Tables
Durov’s refusal to collaborate with the government is interpreted as cloaking criminal activity, whereas the Telegram office declares that they do not support their platform being used for planning or executing criminal actions and fight against it, although with no official relation to any state.
However, the French police accused Durov of “administrating a platform for illegal transactions”, TF1 channel called Telegram “a hotbed of criminal content” and a prosecutor on Durov’s case claimed that the app has become a top-1 platform for organised crimes.
After five days of custody Pavel Durov was released on bail of 5 million euros. His arrest has kickstarted a series of investigations in different countries. Ukraine claims the messenger a national security danger, Indonesia warns to ban it and the New York Times published an article calling Telegram “a playground for criminals, extremists and terrorists” with an analysis of more than 3.2 million messages.
It seems that the more people acknowledge the power Telegram acquires in terms of civilian discourse, the more states present their dissatisfaction with the way the app works. Whether the “real-world harm” it is said to bring is above political systems and international disputes, or it is a hidden way of social regulation countries apply in attempt to maintain the democratic status, remains a question.
However, the French police accused Durov of “administrating a platform for illegal transactions”, TF1 channel called Telegram “a hotbed of criminal content” and a prosecutor on Durov’s case claimed that the app has become a top-1 platform for organised crimes.
After five days of custody Pavel Durov was released on bail of 5 million euros. His arrest has kickstarted a series of investigations in different countries. Ukraine claims the messenger a national security danger, Indonesia warns to ban it and the New York Times published an article calling Telegram “a playground for criminals, extremists and terrorists” with an analysis of more than 3.2 million messages.
It seems that the more people acknowledge the power Telegram acquires in terms of civilian discourse, the more states present their dissatisfaction with the way the app works. Whether the “real-world harm” it is said to bring is above political systems and international disputes, or it is a hidden way of social regulation countries apply in attempt to maintain the democratic status, remains a question.
“Here’s my eldest daughter instructing me on how to launch Telegram,”
- Durov on his channel
- Durov on his channel
