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Telegram CEO Pavel Durov charged by French prosecutors

Prosecutors alleged that Telegram enabled organized crime and refused to cooperate with authorities.

One of the charges — complicity in administering an online platform permitting illicit transactions by an organized group — carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros ($555,750), prosecutors said. In a statement Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Telegram had almost completely failed to respond to its legal requests for user data in prosecuting cybercrime cases. Durov, born in the former Soviet Union, has presented himself as a free speech absolutist, and he moved Telegram’s headquarters from Russia to the United Arab Emirates after, he said, the Kremlin demanded he turn over users’ data.

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