Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech in the course of the Cell World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 23, 2016. REUTERS/Albert Gea
Albert Gea | Reuters
French prosecutors on Wednesday charged Telegram CEO Pavel Durov with enabling prison exercise on the messaging platform and positioned him underneath formal investigation following his arrest Saturday.
In an announcement, the Paris Prosecutors’ Workplace mentioned that Durov was indicted of all fees unveiled earlier this week in an announcement from prosecutors. They included complicity within the administration of a web based platform to allow a bootleg transaction, in an organized gang — a cost which, by itself, carries a most penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a 500,000 euro ($555,830) fantastic if somebody is discovered responsible after trial.
Different fees included refusal to speak, upon request from the licensed authorities, the knowledge or paperwork essential for the efficiency and exploitation of interceptions licensed by regulation, enabling the dissemination of kid pornography, drug trafficking, and fraud.
Since Saturday, Durov has been in French custody and confronted query from authorized authorities over an investigation into organized crime, drug trafficking, fraud, and the distribution of pornographic photos of minors on the platform.
Durov has posted 5 million euros for bail, is underneath judicial supervision, can not go away French territory, and has to report twice weekly to a police station, prosecutors mentioned Tuesday.
The 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire has been accused of failing to mitigate the misuse of his social media and messaging platform for prison actions.
Telegram was not instantly out there for remark when contacted by CNBC concerning the formal fees.
Telegram mentioned in a earlier assertion posted on the X social media platform earlier this week that it abides by EU legal guidelines, and that CEO Durov has “nothing to cover,” including “it’s absurd to assert {that a} platform or its proprietor are answerable for abuse of that platform.
