A lawyer for Telegram boss Pavel Durov, who is the target of an unprecedented investigation in France, said Thursday it was «absurd» to suggest the head of a social network was responsible for any criminal acts committed on the platform.
A lawyer for Telegram boss Pavel Durov, who is the target of an unprecedented investigation in France, said Thursday it was “absurd” to suggest the head of a social network was responsible for any criminal acts committed on the platform.
Underlining the uneasy relationship between governments and social media giants, the case against Durov can be seen as a warning shot to tech titans over how to tackle alleged illegality on their apps.
The Kremlin has also weighed in on a case that has further strained Russia’s relations with France, saying the prosecution of the Russian-born tech boss, who is accused of allowing illicit content to run on a platform used by close to 1 billion people, should not turn into “political persecution.”
A French judge put Durov under formal investigation on Wednesday, four days after police arrested him at Le Bourget airport near Paris, fueling debate on where freedom of speech ends and enforcement of the law begins.
Lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski, who is representing Durov in France, said it was “absurd to say that a platform or its boss are responsible for any abuse” carried out on the platform, and that Telegram was abiding by European laws.
The French judge said on Wednesday that Durov was suspected of complicity in running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, images of child sex abuse and drug trafficking.
Durov, 39, is also being investigated for alleged money laundering and refusal to cooperate with judicial authorities. The platform said this week that Durov had “nothing to hide.”
Durov’s arrest is a first for a CEO of a major messaging platform. But, with tensions mounting between governments and social media giants, it is not the first time Telegram has had a run-in with police and judicial authorities.
