Pavel Durov, die sticker van Telegram. (Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP)
Russia said on Wednesday that it will arrest Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, on charges of “complicity in terrorism”. The Russian authorities claim that he allowed the platform to be used by Ukraine’s security services for recruitment.
Durov, who was born in Russia, is a technology entrepreneur who has lived outside Russia for years and holds passports from France and the United Arab Emirates. He has repeatedly clashed with the Russian authorities after Russia tightened its control over the Internet.
Its Telegram messaging service is one of Russia’s most important communication platforms. The authorities have tried to limit access to it or curb the platform’s success in an attempt to pressure Durov to hand over user data, and to get the Russians to switch to a state-backed alternative.
The FSB, Russia’s security service, said that an international notice had been issued that Durov was wanted.
It is not clear what kind of notice Russia issued, nor whether other countries or law enforcement agencies will accept or heed it.
Pres. Wladimir Poetin van Rusland. (Photo: Sergey Bobylev/AFP)
Social media war
Russia routinely targets political opponents on the grounds that they support “terrorism” or “extremism,” including people who have left Russia.
The FSB claims that Telegram was used as a recruitment platform by Ukrainian security services that would try to force Russians to commit sabotage. According to the FSB, Durov also apparently did not remove “prohibited information” from the platform.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of using social media to recruit people to support them in the war, which has already lasted four and a half years.
Durov, 41, lives in France, where he faces legal problems over allegations of spreading illegal content on Telegram.
Durov founded VKontakte, a social media platform commonly known as “Russia’s Facebook”. He was forced out of the company in mid-2010 after it came under increasing pressure from the Russian authorities. He then started Telegram, a social media platform and private messaging service.
Telegram has quickly become one of the most widely used online services in Russia and has successfully resisted a years-long attempt by Russia’s internet authorities to block access to the platform in the country.
Durov did not immediately respond to the FSB’s allegations.
This year, VKontakte – now state-controlled and known as VK – began heavily promoting the state-backed messaging service Max, encouraging Russians to switch to it from Telegram and WhatsApp.
Durov criticized Max as a “state-controlled application built for surveillance and political censorship”.