Russia charges Telegram founder Pavel Durov with terrorism-related offenses
The FSB issued an international arrest warrant against the billionaire entrepreneur, accusing Telegram of failing to remove content allegedly linked to sabotage and extremist activity.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday that it had charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities and issued an international arrest warrant for him.
The FSB said the charges were linked to Telegram’s alleged failure to remove material that was “used by Ukrainian special services and by terrorist and extremist organizations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass killings, and cyber-fraud operations within the Russian Federation.”
There was no immediate comment from Durov or Telegram.
Telegram, the encrypted messaging app founded in 2013, says it has more than 1 billion users and is widely used by people on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Russia has repeatedly attempted to restrict Telegram’s operations in recent years while promoting its own state-backed MAX messaging service.
Durov, who was born in Russia and now holds Emirati and French citizenship, previously founded VKontakte, Russia’s largest social network and an equivalent of Facebook. He sold his remaining stake in the company in 2014 after coming under pressure from Russian authorities.
Separately, French authorities are investigating Durov over allegations that Telegram failed to adequately combat criminal activity on the platform and did not sufficiently cooperate with law enforcement requests. Durov has denied wrongdoing.
