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Telegram
is a bigger headache than Elon Musk’s X for the EU
France’s
arrest of tech prodigy spotlights messaging service that shelters those who
want to avoid government attention.
August 26, 2024 8:08 pm CET
By Pieter Haeck
BRUSSELS — You thought Elon Musk and X were a problem?
The arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov spotlights a
messaging platform that is an even bigger headache for European governments
than the app formerly known as Twitter.
Telegram's claims that users' privacy was sacrosanct and
that chats weren't visible to governments or even to Telegram itself have
attracted cybercriminals, pedophiles and terrorists even as the company
described itself as a haven for "pro-democracy movements around the
world."
Unlike tech billionaire Musk, who waged public spats over
the EU's push to police online content, Telegram and Durov have previously
managed to stay under the radar as policymakers tried to crack down on illegal
content or behavior on the app.
"It's hard to get in touch with Telegram and make
arrangements," a Dutch minister explained in January when grilled by local
lawmakers on a media report about illegal drugs offered via public Telegram
chats.
But thanks to one high-profile, late-night arrest at a Paris
airport, Telegram now faces the harsh glare of the regulatory, political and
judicial spotlight.
Going
mainstream
Initially a fringe platform, Telegram has grown over the
past decade to rival Meta Platforms' WhatsApp messaging service.
Durov founded Telegram in 2013 with his brother Nikolai,
building on their success in launching Russia's answer to Facebook, VKontakte,
in 2006. Keeping its customers' secrets was a key part of Telegram's appeal,
making it an attractive app for anyone wanting to avoid government scrutiny.
"Telegram has historically had problems with regulators
in some parts of the world because, unlike other services, we consistently
defended our users' privacy and have never made any deals with
governments," Durov wrote in 2017, having fled Russia years earlier after
refusing to shut down opposition groups on VKontakte.
His app boomed, surging to 900 million users globally and
becoming an essential communications tool in closely watched conflicts, such as
Russia's war on Ukraine, where both sides use it.
The platform is Dubai-based, and Durov has dual citizenship
in France and the United Arab Emirates. Press requests are handled by an
automated bot on Telegram's platform. The company has no known Brussels
presence and isn't registered in the European Union's transparency register.
That has allowed Telegram to avoid several EU efforts to
curb online misconduct.
The EU didn't manage to enlist Telegram for its voluntary
code of practice on disinformation, for example, which was launched in 2018 and
revised in 2022. Major players like Google, Meta and TikTok signed the pledge,
but Telegram held out.
That changed in February when the EU finally managed to
connect with Telegram as the Digital Services Act (DSA) forced the platform to
obey various requirements.
"This includes removing illegal content, cooperating
with national authorities, [and] respecting removal orders when national
authorities make such orders," European Commission spokesperson Thomas
Regnier told POLITICO.
Range of
criminal acts
But as Saturday's arrest shows, European governments are
still figuring out how to handle Telegram.
The French prosecutor's office said it was looking into
possible cybercrime, alleging Telegram was complicit in a range of criminal
acts such as possession of child pornography, drug trafficking and organized
fraud.
This is a separate line of attack from EU content moderation
enforcement, where Belgium's telecoms watchdog would be in charge of monitoring
Telegram's EU base in Brussels.
The European Commission only supervises the largest
platforms that have more than 45 million users; Telegram claims it has fewer
than that in the EU.
The Belgian authority told POLITICO it wasn't involved in
the French criminal investigation and hadn't been informed of any failure by
Telegram to remove illegal content. The Commission said the arrest wasn't
related to the DSA.
Musk was quick to turn Durov's arrest into a free-speech
battle, however: "#FreePavel," he posted on X.
Océane Herrero contributed reporting from Paris.
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