🇫🇷🇪🇺❌✉️ French authorities issued arrest warrants for Telegram CEO Pavel Durov and his co-founder brother Nikolai in March, according to a French administrative document

The document indicates the French undercover investigation into Telegram is wider and began months earlier than previously known. The case revolves around Telegram’s refusal to cooperate with a French police enquiry into child sex abuse.

⚠️ The arrest warrants were issued after the messaging platform gave "no answer" to an earlier judicial request to identify a Telegram user, according to the document, which was shared with POLITICO by a person directly involved in the case.

The document also stresses "Telegram's almost non-existent cooperation" with both French and European authorities in other cases.

The warrants were issued after an undercover investigation into Telegram led by the cybercrime branch of the Paris prosecutor's office, during which a suspect discussed luring underaged girls into sending "self-produced child pornography," and then threatening to release it on social media.

The suspect also told the investigators he had raped a young child, according to the document. Telegram did not respond to the French authorities’ request to identify the suspect.

There’s no suggestion either of the Durov brothers were directly involved in any of the illegal activities identified by the investigation.

📝: From the horse's mouth: a French investigator admits that the whole charges brought on Durov are made up and are revenge because Durov refused to doxx European telegram users under the EU's information requests.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/exclusive-telegram-ceo-brother-nikolai-durov-wanted-france-authorities-pavel-durov/

🇫🇷❌✉️ When the initial 96-hour questioning period ends, the investigating magistrate can either free Durov or press charges and remand him in custody.

He could also be freed under judicial control that could include restrictions on his movements.

Durov, who has been based in Dubai in recent years, arrived in Paris from the Azerbaijani capital Baku and was planning to have dinner in the French capital, a source close to the case said.

🔗 https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240828-telegram-founder-set-to-learn-fate-after-france-arrest

🇫🇷❌✉️ Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, was freed from pre-trial detention by a judge.

🔗 https://www.bfmtv.com/tech/actualites/reseaux-sociaux/fin-de-garde-a-vue-pour-pavel-durov-le-patron-de-telegram-transfere-a-la-justice_AD-202408280531.html

🇰🇷✉️South Korea, following France, has announced claims against Telegram.

South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol has called for a thorough investigation into digital sex crimes after local media reported that explicit fake images and videos of South Korean women were common in Telegram chats, Reuters reports.

The Communications Standards Commission, the state media regulator, plans to hold a meeting on August 28 to discuss measures to combat such content and its distributors.

#BREAKING

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸❗️ — Pro-Assad and Syrian opposition media reports that a US Army UAV was downed by Pro-Iranian militias over Deir EzZoor desert

🇫🇷❌✉️ A source in the Paris prosecutor's office confirmed to RIA Novosti that Durov is still with the judge and has not been released.

🔗 https://news.1rj.ru/str/rian_ru/259024

🇦🇷⛓🇳🇮🌹— A group of lawyers submitted a request to the Federal Court of Argentina to issue international arrest warrants against Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega, Vice President and First Lady Rosario Murillo, and other authorities of the Sandinista regime

🔍 The request was filed as part of a criminal investigation opened in the Argentine Federal Court in October 2022 against leaders of the Nicaraguan dictatorship, based on allegations of crimes against humanity.

"The request is based on the severity of the accusations, which include murder, torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and persecution for political and religious reasons, among other crimes, all of which are considered crimes against humanity.

At this stage of the investigation, and after months of analyzing the large amount of evidence accumulated in the process, we agree with the Public Prosecutor's Office and believe that there is sufficient evidence to justify the request for an investigative statement from the accused. In addition, we request their arrests and the issuance of international arrest warrants against them."

Source 🖇

🇫🇷❌✉️ Telegram messages are not encrypted.

France is trying to arrest the CEO of a Russian team that has plaintext access to every message the French president has ever sent or received..

Telegram messages aren't e2e encrypted. It is also a "cloud messenger," meaning that all messages live on Telegram's servers rather than the user's device.

With one query, the Russian Telegram team can get every message the French president has ever sent or received to his contacts, every message those contacts have ever sent or received to their contacts, every message those contacts' contacts have ever sent or received, etc.

It's just plaintext, there are no limits to what they can do, like use an LLM to help go through all that material and pull out the dirt, map the relationships, figure out who's keeping secrets from who, etc.

For the French politicians and cabinet members, it is kind of too late to do anything. Even if they try to delete all their messages now, the Telegram team can just mark the messages as "deleted" so that they no longer display to the user -- but not actually delete the data they retain access to.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/article/telegram-pavel-durov-arrest-emmanuel-macron-france-social-media/

📎 Moxie Marlinspike