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Pavel Durov, the entrepreneur who founded the online communications tool Telegram, was charged on Wednesday in France with a wide range of crimes related to illicit activity on the app and barred from leaving the country.

It was a rare move by legal authorities to hold a top technology executive personally liable for the behavior of users on a major messaging platform, escalating the debate over the role of technology companies in online speech and the limits of their responsibility.

Mr. Durov, 39, who was detained by French authorities on Saturday, was placed under formal investigation on a range of charges, including complicity in managing an online platform to enable illegal transactions; complicity in crimes such as enabling the distribution of child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking and fraud; and a refusal to cooperate with law enforcement.

Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, said in a statement that Mr. Durov had been ordered to pay bail of 5 million euros, or about $5.5 million, and was released but must check in at a police station twice a week.
Telegram has featured in multiple criminal cases in France tied to child sexual abuse, drug trafficking and online hate crimes, but has shown a “near-total absence” of replies to requests for cooperation from prosecutors, Ms Beccuau said.

Prosecutors around France, as well as legal authorities in Belgium and other European countries, “have shared the same observation,” she said, leading organized crime prosecutors to open an investigation in February on the “potential criminal liability of executives at this messaging platform.”

In France, complex criminal cases like the one against Mr. Durov are initiated by prosecutors but ultimately handled by special judges with broad investigative powers, who charge defendants when they believe that the evidence points to serious wrongdoing. The magistrates can later drop the charges if they do not believe that the evidence is sufficient to proceed to trial, and cases can take years — meaning a swift resolution of Mr. Durov’s case is unlikely.

If Mr. Durov was eventually convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison, Ms. Beccuau said.

Mr. Durov’s arrest has become a focus of the debate about free speech on the internet. President Emmanuel Macron of France on Monday dismissed accusations that the arrest was an example of government censorship.

Telegram, which Mr. Durov founded in Russia in 2013, now has more than 900 million users. Light oversight of content on the platform has helped people living under authoritarian governments to communicate, but has also made the app a haven for harmful content.
A Russian national, Mr. Durov left Russia in 2014 and Telegram is now based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mr. Durov also has citizenship in France and the U.A.E., according to Telegram.

Telegram has long been on the radar of law enforcement agencies because terrorist organizations, drug sellers, weapons dealers and far-right extremist groups have used it for communicating, recruiting and organizing.

Historically, companies have more commonly been held responsible for a platform’s transgressions, rather than individuals. But tech companies are paying close attention to the legal liability that their executives face as law enforcement agencies, regulators and policymakers ramp up scrutiny of online platforms and exchanges.
Aurelien Breeden is a reporter for The Times in Paris, covering news from France. More about Aurelien Breeden


Link: French rules!