Telegram is a messaging platform – an application that allows us to send messages to our friends. These messages can have text, images, videos, and audio. Some other messaging platforms are Whatsapp (a company owned by Meta) and Signal.
Telegram and Whatsapp also have the option of channels – broadcasts where someone can share messages or information and many people can read. Telegram also has security measures. Once we create a user name on Telegram, we don’t need to share our telephone number. This provides an additional layer of security. Further, Telegram was the first platform to offer end to end encrypted messaging.
These messaging platforms are understood to be intermediaries.
This means that they just facilitate the messaging. They cannot be held liable for the content of the information shared on their platforms.
The Arrest
Pavel Durov, one of the founders of Telegram, was born in Russia but is a citizen of France as well. On Saturday evening (August 24, 2024), as he landed in France from Azerbaijan, he was arrested by the French authorities.
What is the charge?
The French authorities just released a small statement indicating that he had been arrested for unlawful activity on Telegram. No further details were given.
Telegram, the company, made a brief statement that they have nothing to hide and will share all details with the authorities.
The French Issue
France has been rocked by riots in the recent past. The police have been struggling to control the violence.
Even their presidential elections were guessed to be manipulated. Tech platforms are used for instigating people to participate in such violent acts. They are also used to present selective information to users to manipulate their minds in an election.
Why is this important?
If one CEO is arrested, it opens all CEOs of messaging platforms to similar criminal prosecution.
While Mark Zuckerberg was summoned by the US Congress to answer for the child deaths that were directly attributed to Instagram, no criminal charges have been brought against him.
If those charges are converted to actual criminal charges, and he is held directly responsible for those deaths, he would be jailed and sentenced (punished) accordingly.
The same could apply to other CEOs of large tech companies.
Question for you
Do you think that the Telegram CEO is responsible for message contents on his platform? Why or why not?
Update
Durov was later released on bail.
He said that the charges were ridiculous, and probably caused by their rapid growth. On Thursday evening, he also made a public statement (available on Twitter), embedded below.
I'm still trying to understand what happened in France. But we hear the concerns. I made it my personal goal to prevent abusers of Telegram's platform from interfering with the future of our 950+ million users.
— Pavel Durov (@durov) September 5, 2024
My full post below. https://t.co/cDvRSodjst
Changes to Telegram
However, the following changes have been made in the Telegram app:
Users can now report content. Even in private chats. Once reported, Telegram will review the content and take action. Until now, Telegram was the only platform that did not have this option. While this means that all chats on Telegram remained 100% private, giving the company no way to see anything on any chat, it also violated a basic principle of online safety. Telegram has also introduced an email id where users can report objectionable (something that one can object to) content.
While no official statement was made, the Terms of use of Telegram no longer have the commitment that Telegram would not co-operate with law enforcement to help identify users.