The debates surrounding the arrest and police custody of Pavel Durov in Paris and its consequences for the Telegram platform are prone to contrasting judgments and digital controversies. That is because the application and its founder lend themselves to both the worst and the best.
For the best, this is the story of a platform that was built in opposition to censorship and digital surveillance in Russia. Following the Russian government's takeover of the VKontakte social network he had created, Durov went into exile in Dubai in 2014 to develop the Telegram app, avoiding the political regulators and security services of his home country. Initially little known, the new network quickly achieved success, particularly in Russia, where it became the preferred communication channel for all opponents of the regime (independent journalists, human rights defenders, opposition activists).
In 2018, exasperated by its excesses of freedom, Russian authorities tried to block the application on its soil but failed considering the inventiveness of Telegram's designers, who found technical means of circumventing censorship. The demonstrations organized to protest the blocking, which notably included the participation of Alexei Navalny, turned Durov into the herald of the free internet in Russia. Since then, Telegram has been hosting a wide range of content. Russia's democratic media outlets (Novaya Gazeta, Dojd, Meduza) remain there. It is one of the last places of media and political pluralism for opposition figures banished from the public arena and now, since the massive aggression against Ukraine, for the most part forced into exile.
Support for illicit transactions
For the worst, the Russian state, unable to ban the application, has chosen to use it to disseminate its own official and unofficial content. Russian institutions have their channels (such as the Russian Ministry of Defense), as have the propagandists who share its war policy. In Russia and well beyond its borders, the platform has been taken over by traffickers of all kinds. It is home to drug, arms and prostitution networks, as well as a wide variety of conspiracy sites.
Inside the European Union (EU), in an open media context, Telegram is of little interest to news sites, political movements or non-profits, which have other communication spaces at their disposal. By contrast, illegal content thrives there. Simply log on and one can order cocaine, ketamine and chemical substances of all kinds. Whether in the city or the countryside, Telegram offers a discreet platform for illicit transactions. However, to access this content, it is necessary to be involved in the trafficking, either as a seller or a consumer. There is no recommendation system on Telegram, and content can only be found if a user is searching for it. This means that the application is a medium for malicious practices that pre-existed it and will probably outlive it.
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