French authorities have allowed Pavel Durov, Telegram’s CEO and founder, to quickly depart the nation whereas felony exercise on the messaging platform continues to be beneath investigation.
Earlier right this moment, Durov revealed in a Telegram publish that he had returned to Dubai after reportedly leaving France from Le Bourget Airport exterior Paris.
An official on the Paris prosecutor’s workplace advised Bloomberg that the judicial order proscribing Durov from touring exterior France through the Telegram felony investigation was suspended between March 15 and April 7.
“As you will have heard, I’ve returned to Dubai after spending a number of months in France on account of an investigation associated to the exercise of criminals on Telegram. The method is ongoing, but it surely feels nice to be residence,” he stated.
“I need to thank the investigative judges for letting this occur, in addition to my legal professionals and crew for his or her relentless efforts in demonstrating that, in relation to moderation, cooperation, and combating crime, for years Telegram not solely met however exceeded its authorized obligations.”
Durov was arrested in France at Le Bourget Airport close to Paris in late August 2024 in reference to an investigation into Telegram’s use for fraud, drug trafficking, and unlawful content material distribution.Â
Days later, he was launched on bail set at €5 million (roughly $5.6 million), however he was instructed to not depart the nation as a result of French authorities have been nonetheless investigating him.
One month after Durov’s arrest, Telegram introduced that it began sharing customers’ telephone numbers and IP addresses with regulation enforcement in the event that they violated the platform’s guidelines following legitimate authorized requests and solely after receiving a sound courtroom order confirming that the consumer is a suspect in a felony case that breaches the platform’s Phrases of Service.
Earlier than the September announcement, Telegram’s coverage restricted delicate consumer data sharing to circumstances involving terror suspects. Telegram’s CEO additionally stated the platform improved its search characteristic (identified for widespread abuse to promote and promote unlawful items) to take away problematic content material.
“These measures ought to discourage criminals. Telegram Search is supposed for locating associates and discovering information, not for selling unlawful items,” Durov stated. “We cannot let unhealthy actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for nearly a billion customers.”
In January, Telegram additionally introduced that it shared the telephone quantity or IP tackle data of two,253 customers with regulation enforcement after 900 U.S. authorities requests.
As Durov introduced final yr, Telegram reached 950 million month-to-month energetic customers in July and 10 million paid subscribers two months later.
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