Russian authorities have charged Pavel Durov, cofounder of the encrypted messaging platform Telegram, with “aiding terrorism” and issued an international arrest warrant for him.
Russia’s FSB security agency announced the charge against Durov on Wednesday, saying his company failed to take down “channels, chats and bots” used by “Ukrainian special services and by terrorist and extremist organisations” to prepare and coordinate attacks in Russia.
Those attacks included acts of “sabotage and terrorism, mass killings, and cyber-fraud operations”, said the FSB.
There was no official comment from Durov or Telegram, but Telegram’s official account on X posted a photograph of Durov holding up his middle finger after the charge was announced.
The Russian charge comes as Moscow tries to restrict the use of Telegram and other popular messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, while promoting its own state-backed MAX messenger service.
Experts warn that MAX, which openly declares it will share user data with authorities upon request, does not use end-to-end encryption that ensures messages remain private.
Russia’s government has also blocked social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram while ramping up restrictions on services like YouTube.
Durov, who was born in Russia but now holds Emirati and French passports, co-founded Telegram in 2013. Before that, he launched Russia’s Facebook equivalent, VKontakte, before selling his remaining stake in 2014 amid pressure from Russian authorities.
Credit: aljazeera.com
