The CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, appeared in court on Dec. 6, 2024. The French authorities arrested Durov but later released him. He is facing allegations that Telegram has been supporting criminal activities.
As reported by AFP, his appearance in the Paris-based court marks his first appearance in court over the matter. During the court session, Durov was accompanied by his lawyers, Christophe Ingrain and David-Olivier Kaminski.
What had happened earlier?
On Aug. 24, 2024, he French police arrested upon landing at the Le Bourget airport. The authorities detained him for four days on account of fueling criminal activities and distribution of uncensored content. The prosecutors argued that the messaging app failed to implement measures to prevent the alleged unlawful activities.
For his release, Durov paid $550,000 as bail. Additionally, the French jurisdiction hit him with strict restrictions to prevent him from leaving France as well as judicial supervision. The judicial supervision involved presenting himself to the police station twice a week.
According to comments by Kaminski (Durov’s attorney), the allegations against Pavel Durov were “totally absurd.” His argument was that the founder of the messaging app cannot be held liable for illegal activities carried out by users. Furthermore, Kaminski highlighted that Telegram was in full compliance with Europe’s digital regulations.
Impact of the case on Telegram
Telegram has intensified its cooperation with French authorities after French prosecutors charged the CEO with 12 criminal activities on the platform. In fact, after his release on Aug. 28, 2024, Durov issued a statement informing that Telegram had updated its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, to comply with government requirements.
We’ve made it clear that the IP addresses and phone numbers of those who violate our rules can be disclosed to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests.
An increase in the abuse of Telegram’s Search Function prompted Telegram to share the IP addresses and phone numbers of users conducting criminal acts via the platform.
Durov boasted that the company’s moderators, supported by AI, made changes to the platform’s search. He commented:
All the problematic content we identified in Search is no longer accessible.
The current price performance of Toncoin (TON)
Meanwhile, the native token of Telegram, Toncoin (TON), which Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai Durov had initially created, has been on a bullish run for the last month. It is currently changing hands at $6.88, according to the data from coinmarketcap.
TON has also had a $290.86 million trading volume in the last 24 hours. The coin also has a market capitalization of $17.55 Billion. While TON dropped by 30% shortly after the arrest of Durov in August, a similar scenario is unlikely as investors remain unmoved. Moreover, the coin’s Fear and Greed Index stands at neutral as per data provided by CFGI.
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