Over the weekend, Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the Telegram platform, was arrested at an airport outside Paris. Durov founded the platform together with his brother in Russia in 2013.
Those who follow the war in Ukraine often come into contact with the platform, where politicians, authorities, and private individuals use it to report and comment on developments.
Telegram makes a point of not following government decisions. They refuse to remove material, and they refuse to reveal who is behind it. It's perceived as a safe haven, especially in Russia, where all social media is heavily regulated, says Leif Nixon, security expert at Combitech.
Gang Criminals Recruit
Among the users are opposition figures and journalists who operate in states with oppression. Durov himself has portrayed himself as a champion of free speech.
Such anonymization services are, of course, used by criminals. They have the same interest in hiding from the state and opponents, says Ted Esplund, commissioner at the National Operational Department of the police, and continues:
Telegram is a channel or platform that I have seen over many years linked to drugs, terrorist content, and sexual abuse of children.
Gang criminals often openly recruit for "jobs" in major cities.
You can post that there are jobs in Malmö that pay 400,000 (kronor), he says.
The curious then get in touch via direct messages. The "job" can, for example, involve violent crimes, weapons, or drugs.
Then the planning and further settlement continue in more closed rooms.
Not Secure
But Telegram not cooperating with various countries' authorities is not the same as the information on the platform being secure, according to Leif Nixon.
People have some notion that Telegram would be heavily encrypted and technically secure. But it's definitely not. Normally, all communication via Telegram goes in plain text over Telegram's servers, he says, and adds that the platform also leaks a lot of metadata, which can be revealing in itself.
There are, of course, more services that would unfortunately give criminals better security if they started using them.
Telegram's CEO and co-founder Pavel Durov was surprisingly arrested at an airport outside Paris on August 24, when he landed with his private plane.
Tech billionaire Durov is a citizen of Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates, and the island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. He left his home country Russia in 2014.
He was released on Wednesday, but is not allowed to leave the country. The 39-year-old is suspected of not having acted against criminals using the platform to commit crimes.
The investigation is led, among others, by Ofmin, a part of the French judiciary that works against exploitation, violence, and abuse of children and young people.
Through his lawyer, Durov denies all allegations, which are described as absurd.
