Telegram CEO Durov charged with several crimes related to messaging app in France.

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Telegram CEO and co-founder Pavel Durov was charged in a French court on Aug.

28 with complicity in the distribution of sexual images of children and other crimes, such as drug trafficking through the messaging app, French media outlet BFMTV reported. Telegram's founder is accused of six of the 12 offenses previously announced, including a refusal to provide the necessary information or documents for further investigation at the request of authorized bodies, BFMTV said, citing the Paris prosecutor's office. Apart from refusing to cooperate with the authorities, Durov is also accused of declining to help carry out lawful wiretapping of suspects.

Durov was set bail of 5 million euros (£ 5.6 million) to be released from custody. The Telegram CEO is also prohibited from leaving France and must report to the French police twice a week. Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport on the outskirts of Paris on Aug.

24 after landing in his private jet. Born in St. Petersburg, Durov obtained French citizenship in 2021 but is believed to live in Dubai.

On Aug.

28, Politico reported that France issued arrest warrants for Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai Durov, founders of the Telegram messaging service, already in March. The document obtained by Politico showed that the French investigation into Telegram is more extensive and was launched several months earlier than previously thought. AFP reported earlier that the investigation was opened in July.

Pavel Durov, who has a net worth estimated at £15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on the Russian social media platform VK, which he subsequently sold. Durov has claimed he is a pariah and has been effectively exiled from Russia, but on Aug.

27, it was reported he had visited Russia over 60 times since leaving the country, according to Kremlingram, a Ukrainian group that campaigns against the use of Telegram in Ukraine. Telegram remains one of the most popular social media platforms among Ukrainians.

A September 2023 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology indicated that 44% of Ukrainians use Telegram to receive information and news. Telegram is also widely used by Ukrainian officials and various government institutions against the advice of Ukraine's TV and radio-broadcasting body.

Ukraine's Telegram problem goes beyond Pavel Durov, its Russian founder When Pavel Durov, a Russian tech entrepreneur who founded the Telegram messenger app, was arrested in Paris on Aug.

24 on accusations of allowing terrorism to blossom on his platform, Ukraine watched it closely.

He was charged by a Paris court on Aug.

28.

In Ukraine, the charges against Durov