The news of Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, being arrested as he stepped out of its private jet in Paris on Saturday, August 24, has surely come as a shock for the tech world. This is the first time a social media executive has physically entered jail for crimes that allegedly occurred on the platform. He was released on Wednesday after paying a €5 million bail, but is banned from leaving the country as authorities placed him under criminal investigation.
The Russian-born billionaire has long been a divisive figure. Deemed as the "Robin Hood of the internet" by Le Monde, Durov is popular among free speech fighters for refusing to give away Telegram's users' identities to law enforcement requests. Some countries have blocked access to Telegram over the years for this reason, in fact, forcing people to turn to the best VPNs if they want to keep using the app.
While French President Emmanuel Macron stressed there's no political motive behind the arrest, Telegram's 950 million monthly active users worldwide remain in the dark. So, is Telegram still a viable option to protect your communications privacy?
Why did France arrest Pavel Durov?
Complicité – complicity – is the word the French prosecutors used the most in its long list of accusations against Durov.
The investigation, which was launched on July 8, is over alleged complicity in running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, child pornography, drug trafficking, and the refusal to share information with authorities under requests.
Some of the charges also include the alleged use of cryptographic technologies - those responsible for implementing encryption protections on the messaging app - without proper declaration as well as providing those cryptographic services to criminals.
In a statement, Telegram said that the platform "abides by EU laws," including the Digital Services Act. "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform."
The unsealed charges against Durov are insane. If sustained, I don't see how tech founders could possibly travel to France, much less hire in France. This is economic suicide and is rapidly and permanently changing the perception of founders and investors. https://t.co/ItYH93wfRXAugust 26, 2024
Needless to say, Durov's arrest split the tech world.
On one side, some commentators have welcomed the event as the end of impunity for tech bosses – a sign that the EU regulatory strategy is working. On the other, many took the defense of the head of Telegram, including X's owner Elon Musk who shared the #FreePavel a day after his arrest.
The latter category also includes Andy Yen, founder and CEO of the privacy company behind Proton VPN and Proton Mail. In a tweet (see above), Yen wrote: "The unsealed charges against Durov are insane. If sustained, I don't see how tech founders could possibly travel to France, much less hire in France."
No, Telegram isn't an encrypted app
Durov's arrest is also especially significant because it brings the matter of encryption into the spotlight, yet again. Or rather, the friction between law enforcement and encrypted online services.
Both in the UK and the EU, regulators have been trying to introduce a way for authorities to access encrypted messages to halt the spread of child sexual abuse material and other crimes. Experts have strongly criticized such attempts, with the likes of Signal even threatening to leave their market rather than undermine or weaken its privacy policies.
While the UK Online Safety Bill agreed to postpone such provision to when it will be "technically feasible" to do so in a privacy-preserving manner, the EU's so-called Chat Control proposal is still on top of the agenda for the European block.
Cryptographers, privacy advocates, and tech companies such as VPN and messaging app providers have criticized the Chat Control proposal from the beginning – warning against mass surveillance and security risks. Last February, the European Court of Human Rights even deemed attempts to break encryption to be illegal.
Considering that the charges against the head of Telegram include suspected misuse of encryption technologies, this become a matter of concern for the world of encrypted messaging apps. The truth is, however, that Telegram isn't exactly the best example of such technology.
Services like Signal and even WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default, meaning that all the messages you exchange on their platform are completely private between you and your receiver.
On the contrary, only Telegram's secret chats are end-to-end encrypted. This is an additional feature you need to actively select to benefit from this extra level of privacy, which also allows you to set a timer to self-destruct your messages for extra security. You can find more info in the Telgarm FAQ section on how secret chats work.
"However, regular chats and public channels, including invite-only ones, may not offer the same level of security," Aleksandr Valentij, Cyber Security Lead at Surfshark, told me. "It’s possible that with enough pressure, law enforcement could access this information."
Put simply, if you're after a truly private messaging service, Telegram has never been the right app for you. Even more so now as it isn't clear if French authorities could force Durov to finally give away the users' data they asked for.
Is Telegram blocked?
No, at the time of writing Telegram remains available in Europe and everywhere else it was before Pavel Durov was arrested.
Nonetheless, the platform has often been the target of government blocking. According to Surfshark's findings, Telegram is currently restricted in China, Ethiopia, Guinea, Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Oman, Thailand, Turkmenistan, the UAE, and Uzbekistan.
Pavel Durov's (@durov) recent arrest by French authorities has not led to Telegram Messenger being censored on the @AppStore. @telegram remains fully available, except in the China App Store, where it was removed by @Apple at the request of Chinese authorities around April 18,… pic.twitter.com/bpQvIVVelsAugust 26, 2024
Since 2015, 31 countries have banned Telegram either temporarily or permanently, affecting over 3 billion people globally.
The platform was temporarily blocked in Brazil in April last year for failing to hand over data from neo-Nazi chats. At that time, Durov appealed the decision and deemed the request as "technologically impossible." A month later, the Brazilian Supreme Court even threatened to ban the use of VPNs to overcome possible Telegram blocks after the organization publicly criticized its so-called fake news law.
In August 2023, Iraq shut down Telegram as well - this time, over privacy concerns. According to the government, the social media platform failed to respond to its requests to shut down the channels responsible for leaking sensitive data.
While not issuing a complete ban, Portugal and Germany also ordered the company to shut down some channels in the past, as these were helping to facilitate piracy and spreading misinformation.
Bottom line
It's still too early to say whether the arrest of Pavel Durov will mark the end for Telegram. What's certain, though, is that the social media platform is likely to enter into a new era if it wants to keep operating in Europe.
Still, Telegram is a crucial resource for accessing independent information worldwide, its permissive business model has allowed the proliferation of extremist groups and illegal activities. Considering that, as we have seen, group chats and channels aren't encrypted, this is a problem that Durov and the team can address if they really want to – or rather have to, in this case.
This could mean that Telegram might be more inclined to share users' data with authorities upon law enforcement requests in the future. I then recommend migrating to another more secure platform like Signal if keeping your communications private is your priority.
At the same time, I also suggest getting a reliable virtual private network (VPN) app to keep accessing the platform in case French investigators decide to eventually issue a blocking order. While encrypting your internet connections, a VPN spoofs your real IP address to grant you access to otherwise geo-restricted content.
You can find more information on how to unlock Telegram with a VPN on our dedicated page, with NordVPN being our top recommendation at the time of writing.
