Telegram CEO Pavel Durov freed from French custody | LiveNOW from FOX

Sometimes here on live now we have spoken about Andor relied upon uh some of these messages that come down in Russia and in Ukraine on the social messaging app telegram uh so you may have heard of telegram uh well this is a good Segway into our next Story the CEO and the founder of telegram a guy by the name of Pavo durov well he was taken.

Into custody by French authorities uh over the weekend here let's put up some video um this is what we know that French press uors today freed the telegram CEO Pavo durov there from police custody after 4 days of questioning over allegations that the messaging app is being used for illegal activities uh so durov was detained.

Saturday at Le bour airport outside Paris as part of a Judicial inquiry that was opened last month involving 12 alleged criminal violations now a statement from the Paris prosecutor's office said today that quote an investigating judge has ended pav durov's police custody and will have him brought to court for a first appearance.

And a possible indictment now allegations against the Russian born durov who is a French citizen include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking fraud and abetting organized crime transactions and that telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when.

Required by law now his arrest in France has caused outrage in Russia with some government officials calling it politically motivated and proof of the West's double standard on freedom of speech well French president Emanuel macron uh took that to task on social media the other day we want to put that up here uh mcon saying this that I have.

Seen false information regarding France following the arrest of paab durov France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication to Innovation and to the spirit of Entrepreneurship it will remain so in a state governed by the rule of law freedoms are upheld within a legal framework both on social media and in.

Real life to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights macron goes on to say it is up to the Judiciary in full Independence to enforce the law the arrest of the president of telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judici investigation it is in no way a political decision it is up to the.

Judges to rule on the matter let's talk about all of this uh because it does raise a lot of questions about censorship freedom of speech uh what these Tech platforms and Tech CEOs are liable for we're going to do that with our friend there at the Harvard belfer Center and that of course is Doug kadasi joins me uh and you know Doug we wanted.

To get you on because this is such an interesting story uh there are so many posts about it on social media and Doug I guess I got to ask you first pava durov isn't in the clear just yet is he yes he was released from French custody today but he still has a later court appearance oh absolutely he's not at all in the clear uh he's being indicted uh.

He has has to check in twice a week with the French authorities and the expectation is that this is going to go to trial at some point if it doesn't settle these cases take a very long time to resolve and if he doesn't subtle we like to be hearing about this for a long time but he is very much not out of the woods so Doug um there are so many.

Questions that arise from a story like this this question though I have can a platform owner or co-founder or CEO like durov be held responsible for what users post or or what users allow we've seen this question play out before it seems like this is the latest iteration of this question here and in regards to this story it's about criminal Mal.

Feance child porn allegations being shared on the platform and so many of those nefarious activities here how can they prove durov being the founder and CEO of telegram is responsible for that where is the liability standard here that's a great question Andrew telegram wants to make this about speech and it's more sympathetic if the battle can be.

Fought on Free Speech grounds the French Authority is going to want to make it more about conduct and specifically telegram's own conduct in complying with lawful law enforcement orders for evidence after speeches have been given and maer has been communicated now holding a executive liable for the actions of his company does feel like an.

Escalation we don't see that very often and my expectation is that the French probably felt like they had no other options to actually get telegram to pay attention they probably would have simply gone there for the company Levi a fine done something in a civil action if they thought it would be effective but they probably thought they had know.

Their choice but then to go after him personally you know something this reminds me of and this is not in the free speech space but it's in the fintech space um Shang panga uh the head of binance uh was found guilty had to pay one of if not the biggest fine to the doj uh for something similar you know allowing Bitcoin transactions on.

His exchange that skirted sanctions or were respons responsible for nefarious activities say to you know fund Terror activities or Terror groups here do you see similarities in that I know that's in the fintech space here but it's the same concept is it not I do and I think that's what this case is fundamentally GNA be about when we know more of the.

Facts it's not g to be so much about speech per se it's going to be about a legal activity that was coordinated on the platform one fact I heard that jumped out of me was that for a platform that has 900 million users worldwide at some point they had only 60 employees in relatively recent months now we'll find.

Out whether or not that's actually true but it does seem like they have hardly anybody who's actually paying attention to what's being communicated on their platforms and even after the authorities find credible evidence that really bad things are going on and let them know they've simply been stonewalling the authorities and saying we're not going.

To do anything about it and that seems to have worked for a number of years but the time the may run out yeah I mean you know telegram it's not necessarily used widely in the west but it is elsewhere around the world in places that are not necessarily known uh for being welcome to Free Speech protections Iran it's banned there officially it's still used.

Uh is it still widely used though in Russia Doug uh even in the midst of the war in Ukraine or is it heavily reg regulated it is and it seems that in recent years uh Putin and the Kremlin have decided that they are going to allow telegram to flourish they're using it to push out some of their own messages and try to get broad reach.

Within the population now the relationship between Telegram and durov and the Russian government is complex and it has changed and shifted over the years it does seem in recent years they're on better terms and what if any information telegram is sharing with the Russian government is a major open question that a lot of people are.

Interested in finding out we might learn more about that over the course of this case you know Doug you follow these stories so closely did you see this coming I'm just kind of curious you know it kind of came out of the blue here yes he's a French citizen he was Russian born um but the manner in which he was taken into custody and I would argue.

That it seems like um the West so to speak or at least Western values like freedom of expression and Free Speech are also uh being indicted in this as well would you agree I think it's it's a difficult line to draw I don't know if I would that Free Speech itself is being indicted I do think it's about criminal activity.

That was taking place on the platform they were being alerted to it they chose to Simply ignore the requests I mean in a western democracy whatever the values the corporate CEO May hold you know he doesn't get to decide whether or not evidence of a crime is going to be shared with authorities under a lawful process you know that's something that.

Elected officials do within the bounds of any constitutional system but the question of whether telegram can be allowed to facilitate speech in difficult areas authoritarian Nations these are tough questions and I think one of the things that makes this such an interesting case is that you have some of the very best people in the.

World dissidents under authoritarian regimes who are risking their lives and fighting for Freedom relying on Telegram and you also have wor people in the world relying on Telegram and it's a weird mix yeah so you know aside from some of the allegations about the content on being shared and disseminated um is the world better off with more.

Telegram or less telegram would you say that really depends on who you ask I think it does a lot of good it does a lot of bad and it really depends on who you're talking to it's been interesting in some countries uh you've been seeing some of the the dissidents who really are some of the most sympathetic people coming out in favor of telegram and.

Saying this is a terrible development at the same time some of the people who fight things like child sexual abuse material which nobody wants to see push through the system are also saying that telegram really needs to clean up its act all right Doug kaladas as always can't thank you enough we'll talk soon great thanks Andrew.

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