CNA Explains: What does Telegram CEO Durov’s indictment mean for app users?

French authorities on Wednesday (Aug 28) charged Telegram founder and chief Pavel Durov with a litany of violations for allowing alleged illicit activity on the popular messaging service.
It is part of a sweeping investigation into organised crime on the app. 
Crimes being investigated include child pornography, drug trafficking and fraud. 
The 39-year-old billionaire was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris late Saturday after a flight from Azerbaijan. 
He has been granted bail of €5 million (US$5.6 million) after four days of questioning, but has been banned from leaving France.
On Wednesday, investigative judges handed preliminary charges to the Russian-born tech mogul with complicity in crimes such as enabling the distribution of child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking and fraud, and refusing to cooperate with law enforcement.
Dr Timothy Koskie, post-doctoral research associate in digital communication at the University of Sydney, said it comes down to what exactly the French legal authorities are accusing him of.
“We don’t know all of the details of what they’re accusing them of, what they’ve seen. Until we have those details, it’s maybe hard to say whether or not this is extreme,” he told CNA’s Asia Now on Thursday. 
“My sense is, it is a bit of a cold water shock to not only Durov himself, but also to the social media platforms.”
In 2014, Durov, who founded the popular Russian social media company VKontakte, left Russia after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on the platform.
The entrepreneur is now a citizen of Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates, where Telegram is based.
French President Emmanuel Macron earlier said Durov’s arrest was not politically motivated. 
However, Moscow believes otherwise, with officials expressing outrage at his detention.  
While Russia wants to be seen as protecting its citizens, it is also putting forward a “weird argument” that the case shows the hypocrisy of the West in terms of freedom of speech, said Dr Nasya Bahfen, senior lecturer at La Trobe University’s Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy. 
“But Russia’s not really the kind of country to be educating other countries on the issue of freedom of speech because of the Kremlin’s long history of cracking down on pro-democracy voices, and the banning of non-Russian-developed social media platforms,” she told CNA’s Asia First on Thursday. 
The Russian government had unsuccessfully tried to ban Telegram in 2018 for refusing to comply with data-sharing demands.
Within Russia, it is a communication tool used by dissenters against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, as well as the Kremlin and its supporters. 
Dr Bahfen said: “I think that both the fact that the Kremlin and the military use Telegram, and the fact that Durov does still hold Russian citizenship are both reasons for the Kremlin to come out and to be really vocal against his arrest by the French authorities.”
Telegram, which now reports more than 900 million users globally, has insisted that Durov had “nothing to hide”. 
The app said it was “absurd” that the platform and its owner should be held responsible for inappropriate content. 
The appeal of Telegram is its privacy, noted Dr Bahfen. “Its selling point was that they are going to prevent the authorities and anyone from looking at your communications.” 
The move by the French authorities sends a warning to users “who might look at the privacy appeals on Telegram as a way to sort of get around some of the nefarious or not completely legal activities”, she added. 
It is also going to have an impact on the people “who are distrustful of Western social media apps” as well as users “for whom the privacy of the messaging service is a key draw”, she said.
The probe into organised crime could also hurt Telegram’s future popularity among investors.
“It’s going to impact Telegram’s ability to raise funds. So the financial viability of the app is going to take a hit,” said Dr Bahfen. 
“These are just preliminary charges, and so the case could go on for a bit of a long while.”
Observers believe the case would likely put major messaging platforms under greater control, so that criminal actions are not facilitated through their use. 
“What makes this French action so special is the implications it can potentially have for how these international social media platforms treat people in other countries that have nothing to do with what’s happening in France,” said Dr Koskie, adding that new European Union digital rules to clean up what people see online also set out a different landscape to navigate around. 
“When France and European Union regulations and policies impact the way they do their work, that could have a downstream effect on how people in (other countries) are able to interact.”
Durov’s indictment is also a rare move by the authorities to hold a top technology executive personally liable for the behaviour of users on a major online platform. 
“It’s basically just a sign to not just Durov but also the other executives with Telegram that basically, the authorities are keeping an eye on them,” said Dr Bahfen. 
“It’s an indication that the French authorities believe there’s sufficient evidence there to charge him with a lot of these crimes.”
The case has highlighted concerns over the extent of responsibility tech firms should have for the content on the platforms.
X owner Elon Musk and other tech leaders have voiced their support for Durov and criticised the investigation as a challenge to free speech.
Dr Bahfen said that Telegram’s comments on its liability over content posted by users is “a bit of a facetious argument”.
“I’m sure the French authorities are going to look at that and say if you are going to be the means by which criminal acts take place, then you do have to have to be held accountable,” she added. 
“It is an incredibly difficult thing to do to balance the rights of free speech with societies’ rights in being free of actions that’ll cause harm to its citizens.”
Experts believe platforms can adopt advanced filters that prevent their services from being used for criminal activities, while still maintaining user privacy. 
“It’s an algorithm that sort of identifies it, puts it to the side and says maybe not,” said Dr Koskie. 
“So there are ways that they can do this without infringing on people’s privacy.”