TELEGRAM CEO TO APPEAR IN COURT
Paul Derov has been summoned to appear in court on Sunday. The Telegram boss was arrested in France earlier this week.
The 39-year-old was arrested at a Paris airport for offences related to the Telegram app. French authorities are saying the app is failing to take action to curb the criminal use of the platform.
Telegram is an encrypted messaging app based in Dubai. The app has committed to never disclosing information about its users.
Derov has been quoted as saying that he looked at different countries to base the Telegram head office in, but eventually decided on Dubai because there Telegram can shield itself from moderation laws. Western countries are putting massive pressure on other messaging apps to remove illegal content and disclaim the information of their users.
News24 reports that France’s OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov in a preliminary investigation into alleged offences including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism, one source said.
One of the investigators said they’ve had “enough of Telegram’s impunity”.
Derov is a Franco-Russian billionaire with dual citizenship. Following the arrest, Russia has accused France of not being cooperative in the matter.
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