JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The app Telegram is in the spotlight since its founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested by French authorities over the weekend. Durov is still detained. He's being questioned over Telegram's alleged refusal to comply with law enforcement requests. As NPR's Bobby Allyn reports, it's an issue on Telegram that safety advocates and researchers have been drawing attention to for years.
BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: First, some backstory on Pavel Durov - he became known as Russia's Mark Zuckerberg after founding a social network inspired by Facebook in 2006. Vladimir Putin's allies took it over, and, by 2013, Durov started Telegram as a secure way to communicate outside the reach of the Kremlin. Here he is back in April, talking to Tucker Carlson about Telegram's philosophy.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PAVEL DUROV: We apply the rules equally to all sides. We don't become prejudiced in this way. It's not that we are rooting for the opposition...
TUCKER CARLSON: Right.
DUROV: ...Or we are rooting for the ruling party. It's not that we don't care, but we think it's important to have this platform that is neutral to all voices.
ALLYN: This anything-goes approach has drawn more than 900 million people to the app. But over the weekend, it also led to Durov's arrest. French authorities have detained Durov and continue to question him as part of an investigation examining the spread of illegal drugs and child abuse content on the app.
To Benjamin Bull, it was about time. He's the general counsel for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. It's a nonprofit that fights against child sexual abuse material, also known as CSAM.
BENJAMIN BULL: You'll find child pornography, CSAM, on X, on TikTok, on all of the major internet platforms. But Telegram is a world unto itself.
ALLYN: The center's researchers have found that Telegram is the No. 1 app child abuse material is being circulated, and efforts to combat it have failed for years.
BULL: Telegram has refused to cooperate with us. The more we follow up with them, the more that they refuse to respond. They feel like they're above the law. They feel like they can do whatever they want.
ALLYN: Bull hopes Durov's arrest will change that. He'd like to see a crackdown on the app in the U.S. Telegram is based in Dubai. Seth Goertz says that could complicate matters. He's a former Justice Department prosecutor who focused on cybercrime.
SETH GOERTZ: When I was at the DOJ, you know, Telegram does not cooperate or comply with government process. They don't have to. They're outside the reach of it.
ALLYN: Noncompliance - that's the first obstacle. But another would be proving the case. Goertz says, yes, there is plenty of criminal activity on Telegram, but that's not enough to prosecute Durov.
GOERTZ: What you would need more than that - what you would need is evidence that executives and decision-makers at Telegram are aware of and taking steps to facilitate and protect this criminal conduct.
ALLYN: He's watching the French case to see if Paris prosecutors can show that. On the other side, though, he says there are legitimate concerns about not interfering with free expression.
GOERTZ: It is a huge lifeline for a number of people living in surveillance states because the encrypted platform allows people to communicate in ways in which they would not otherwise be able to, provide safety in ways in which they would not otherwise be able to, and that's what makes Telegram such a tricky situation.
ALLYN: And Telegram's CEO, Pavel Durov, has long leaned into this framing, too - that the app has helped protesters and dissidents organize. But on the flip, researchers say it's also helped terrorist organizations like ISIS recruit members. Telegram, for its part, put out a statement saying it is absurd to blame a platform owner for those who are abusing the platform. It also insists it abides by all European Union laws. French authorities say Durov will either be charged with a crime and held in jail longer or not charged and released on Wednesday.
Bobby Allyn, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF VICTOR RAY SONG, "FALLING INTO PLACE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
