Political analyst calls Durov's determination to cooperate with French authorities suspicious
- Новости
- World
- Political analyst calls Durov's determination to cooperate with French authorities suspicious
The determination of Telegram founder Pavel Durov to cooperate with the French authorities and provide law enforcement agencies with phone numbers and IP addresses of messenger rule violators looks suspicious, as he did not provide details of the interrogation he was given in Paris. This was stated to "Izvestia" on September 23 by Scott Bennett, a political scientist and former officer of the United States Armed Forces.
He noted that he had read in detail Durov's reports, in which he described, among other things, his arrest. And noted that the arrested man did not provide any details of the interrogation process or write where he is now.
"This could dispel the fears of Telegram subscribers that there is no secret plot, double intent or nefarious activity here. So I think he hasn't been completely honest. He didn't say anything about the case or the decision or whether he was still under house arrest. He didn't say whether it was a compromise. He just started to sort of parallel his excuses for allegedly doing what the authorities asked him to do," the expert said.
Bennett pointed out that Durov recognized the use of the Telegram messenger by criminals. However, he did not specify whether it was the display of child pornography, drug deals, arms transfers and any other indecent, immoral, perverted or illegal activities.
"He just said there have been a lot of problems in the past, so as a result of that, we're making changes [to our security policies]. And one of them was agreeing to provide IPN numbers and other identifying information to law enforcement agencies upon legitimate requests, whatever that means. <...> If you don't do that, it opens Pandora's box and then the door for potentially the same thing that Facebook has become - an intelligence vacuum cleaner," the former US officer said.
As the expert emphasized, intelligence and law enforcement agencies can simply print warrants or requests, calling them legitimate, and Telegram will agree to provide them.
"I think people who want to continue using it will not be harmed. But now you're going to see the French, the British, the United States, the international NATO bloc starting to target, I believe, Russian citizens in their countries for possible arrests and raids in the event of an escalation of NATO's war against Russia over the situation in Ukraine. And that may be part of their strategy of using leverage to get as many bargaining chips as possible. And that's one way to do it - identify targets by their IPN addresses and then build criminal cases around them," Bennett suggested.
As such, this decision by Durov sets a very bad precedent and casts a lot of doubt on the integrity of the Telegram founder, who said he was threatened with jail or worse. And it arose only because of the fear of prosecution, criminal arrest, interrogation and threats of life imprisonment of Pavel Durov, the expert summarized.
Earlier, on September 23, Durov said that phone numbers and IP addresses of violators of Telegram messenger rules can be disclosed to the relevant authorities in response to reasonable requests on their part. He noted that the messenger has updated its terms and conditions and privacy policy, making them uniform worldwide. This was done after criminals were discovered using the messenger to organize the sale of illegal goods.
Prior to that, on September 20, Le Figaro newspaper reported that Durov had agreed to cooperate with the investigation in France, triggering requests for information from several states at once. According to the newspaper, Durov agreed to remove the "People Nearby" feature, tighten the moderation of content sharing on the platform and disclose anonymous data of some users. The US, the Republic of Korea and Belgium have since sent requests for such data.
Durov was detained on the evening of August 24 at Paris' Le Bourget airport. He was charged with a number of offenses that include drug distribution, a crime against children, money laundering and fraud. The Telegram platform team said it complies with all European Union (EU) laws, including the Digital Services Act. French President Emmanuel Macron said the businessman's detention was not related to politics.
On August 26, Durov was released from custody on his own recognizance and a bail of €5 million. The court confiscated his passports for the period of investigation and ordered the businessman to live in Paris at a specific address. The French prosecutor's office told Izvestia on September 6 that the businessman will be able to seek a change in the rules of his judicial control and their relaxation. Paris prosecutor Laure Becco said on September 11 that the Telegram founder's case is exemplary in the fight against cybercrime.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on September 5 at the plenary session of the IX Eastern Economic Forum (WEF-2024) that Russia had no claims against the Telegram founder, unlike the authorities of other countries. He pointed out that the claims from other countries arose against the background of the use of Telegram by individuals and structures that could harm the economy or security through their activities.
