Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
- Author, Thomas Mackintosh
- Role, BBC News
Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov don chop arrest for hand of French police for one airport for north of Paris.
Oga Durov bin dey detained afta im private jet land for Le Bourget Airport, French tori pipo report.
According to officials di 39-year-old billionaire dey arrested under warrant for offences wey relate to di popular messaging app.
Di investigation according to tori na about lack of moderators, wit accuse say Oga Durov no take steps to check criminal uses of Telegram.
Dem born Oga Durov for Russia and e dey live for Dubai. E hold dual citizenship of di United Arab Emirates and France.
Telegram dey particularly popular for Russia, Ukraine and former Soviet Union states.
Dem bin ban di app for Russia for 2018, afta Oga Durov bin no gree hand over user data. But di ban dey reversed for 2021.
Telegram dey rank as one of di major social media platforms afta Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat.
Oga Durov bin find Telegram for 2013 and e comot Russia for 2014 afta e no gree comply wit goment demands to shut down opposition communities on im VKontakte social media platform, wey e bin sell.
On Sunday, di Russian Embassy for France bin tok say dem dey try get access to Oga Durov.
Dem bin write on Facebook: “Following di media reports about di detention of P. Durov, di French authorities immediately request to clarify di reasons for di detention and to provide for di protection of Oga Durov rights and facilitate consular access.
“As of today, di French authorities dey, for di present time, no cooperate on dis issue.
“We dey for contact wit P. Durov lawyer.”
Russian Foreign ministry tok-tok woman Maria Zakharova bin post on Telegram ask whether Western human rights NGOs go dey silent on Oga Durov arrest, afta dey criticise Russia decision to “create gbege” to di work of Telegram for Russia for 2018.
Some Russian officials bin condemn di businessman arrest, say e show say di West get double standards wen e come to free speech and democracy.
X owner Elon Musk, wey don face big-time criticism over moderation and material wey dey hosted by im own social media site, bin post repeatedly about di situation. E bin hashtag one post #freepavel, and for anoda write: “POV: Na 2030 for Europe and you dey executed for liking one meme.”
Telegram dey allow groups of up to 200,000 members, wey critics don argue say make am easier for misinformation to spread virally, and for users to share conspiracist, neo-Nazi, paedophilic, or terror-related content.
For di UK, di app dey scrutinised say dem dey host far-right channels wey dem dey use organise violent disorder for English cities earlier dis month.
Telegram no remove some groups, but overall dia system of moderating extremist and illegal content dey really weaker dan dat of oda social media companies and messenger apps, cybersecurity experts tok.