Pavel Durov’s arrest leaves Telegram in limbo

“Civil society has had a complicated relationship with Telegram over the past few years,” says Natalia Krapiva, a lawyer at the digital rights group Access Now. “We have defended Telegram against attempts by authoritarian regimes to block the platform and compel it to provide encryption keys, but we have also been raising concerns about Telegram’s human rights policies, reliable channels of communication, and lack of recourse for its users.” Krapiva stressed that French authorities could try to force Durov to provide Telegram’s encryption keys to decrypt private messages, “which Russia has tried to do before.”

The hashtag #FreePavel is spreading online, including from X CEO Elon Musk, who has posted multiple times about Durov’s arrest. “POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being killed for liking a meme,” he wrote Saturday night in response to a post about the Telegram CEO’s detention. “The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said Friday Endorsed Donald Trump for US Presidentx, where he described Telegram as “uncensored” and “encrypted.”

Although Telegram is often described as an encrypted messaging app, Messages aren’t end-to-end encrypted by defaultAnd senior executives previously told WIRED that they view the platform as a social network. That’s largely due to Channels — a one-to-many broadcasting feature that allows unlimited subscribers to view posts.

One of the posts that received the most discussion on X was by right-wing former Fox News journalist Tucker Carlson, who mentioned the oft-repeated statement. But the story is debatable that Durov left Russia because the government tried to take over his company. “But in the end, it wasn’t Putin who arrested him for allowing the public to exercise free speech. It was a Western country,” Carlson wrote The post has been viewed at least 5.7 million times so far. Carlson also provided a link to an hour-long interview he conducted with Durov earlier this year, one of the first and only interviews given by the Telegram CEO in recent years.

In Durov’s absence, Telegram’s future looks uncertain to some: “I’m in shock, and everyone close to Pavel feels the same,” says Georgy Lobushkin, former head of PR at VK, the social network co-founded by Durov, who is still in regular contact with Durov. “Nobody was ready for this situation.” Asked if he is concerned about Telegram’s future and who might run the company in Durov’s absence, Lobushkin says: “[I] Worry a lot.”

TF1Info, which first reported Durov’s arrest in France, reported that there was no doubt that Durov would remain in custody during the investigation. “Pavel Durov will be kept in pretrial detention, that’s for sure,” an unnamed investigator told reporters.

“Nobody at Telegram was prepared for such a scenario,” says Anton Rozenberg, who has worked with Durov since VK’s early days in 2007, having previously worked for Telegram from 2016 to 2017. Rozenberg anticipates Durov securing the best legal defense that money can buy. “But without them, the messenger could have big problems with management, all important decisions, and even payments,” he added, given Durov’s personal involvement in running the company. Rozenberg sees no obvious replacement for Durov, who makes key decisions on almost all matters at Telegram – funding, development strategy, product design, monetization, and content moderation policy.

For now, everything can be expected to continue as normal, says Elías Campo, who directed Telegram’s development, business and partnerships from 2015 to 2021. “It depends on how long it’s going to last, it’s like a government, right? It’s a structure, it’s self-paced.” Campo adds that the company’s staff is quite small – about 60 employees – so the infrastructure will not be affected.

Campo admits the challenge will be whether Durov will have to be physically present to make payments to providers — something Rosenberg has also expressed concern about.

“As far as I know, Pavel did make the payment,” Campo says. “So what happens when there is a requirement for some payment to providers of infrastructure or providers of connectivity – and he is still under arrest?”