{"id":272547,"date":"2024-09-02T12:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T11:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=272547"},"modified":"2024-08-30T07:33:46","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T06:33:46","slug":"france-slaps-telegram-ceo-with-12-criminal-charges-after-israel-calls-platform-uncooperative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/09\/france-slaps-telegram-ceo-with-12-criminal-charges-after-israel-calls-platform-uncooperative\/","title":{"rendered":"France Slaps Telegram CEO with 12 Criminal Charges after Israel Calls Platform ‘Uncooperative’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov, seen after his meeting with Indonesian Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara in Jakarta, Indonesia, 1 Aug 2017.
(Photo credit: AP Photo\/Tatan Syuflana)<\/p><\/div>\n

Telegram has been the ‘least cooperative’ among the social media sites in responding to Israeli censorship requests during its genocide in Gaza.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

27 Aug 2024 <\/em>– Telegram founder Pavel Durov is being held in custody by French authorities as part of a cyber-criminality investigation, the Paris prosecutor said in a statement<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

\n

The Russian-born billionaire and founder of the popular messaging app was\u00a0arrested upon landing in the French capital on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor\u2019s statement mentioned 12 different offenses under investigation for \u201ccomplicity\u201d in organized crime, including illicit transactions, child pornography, fraud, and the refusal to disclose information to authorities.<\/p>\n

The statement added that Durov\u2019s time in custody had been extended and could now last until Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, criticized French authorities for their double standards following Durov\u2019s arrest. \u201cI just remembered that in 2018, a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and others, condemned a Russian court\u2019s decision to block Telegram. The West made other similar statements,\u201d Zakharova stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Telegram has played an important role in the ongoing information war surrounding the genocide in Gaza. Supporters of Palestinians have been able to use the app to freely share information exposing ongoing Israeli war crimes while highlighting the efforts of Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen, and Iran to resist Israel.<\/p>\n

It is unclear if Israel had a role in Durov\u2019s detention in Paris on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Last week, Haaretz<\/i> reported<\/a> that \u201cTelegram has proved a massive challenge for Israel since the start of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

This includes sensitive data leaks from Israel acquired by hackers and released on Telegram channels.<\/p>\n

The Israeli newspaper noted, \u201cWhile many tech firms have streamlined mechanisms through which states can reach out to them\u201d to censor content, \u201cTelegram is considered the least cooperative of them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haaretz<\/i> adds, \u201cMore than that, while many social media platforms have invested heavily in moderation, allowing people and organizations to help monitor content \u2013 for example, the removal of antisemitic content or posts inciting terrorism or even the removal of videos from the October 7 massacre \u2013 Telegram has not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pavel Durov posted on Instagram<\/p><\/div>\n

Israel has been successful<\/a> in controlling and censoring information on other social media apps, including Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok, via the lobbying of Cyberwell, an NGO with extensive links to Israeli intelligence.<\/p>\n

On 23 August, Resistance News Network’s (RNN) Telegram channel was banned across the EU,<\/a> prompting them to activate their backup.<\/p>\n

On 16 August, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta permanently banned<\/a>\u00a0The Cradle<\/i> from its social media platforms for allegedly violating community guidelines by \u201cpraising terrorist organizations\u201d and engaging in \u201cincitement to violence.\u201d The Cradle<\/i> had surpassed 107,000 followers and amassed millions of views due to its coverage of Israel\u2019s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Concerned by the wave of pro-Palestinian content, Israelis in the tech industry tried late in 2023 to reach the Telegram founder in the UAE, where he resides and has citizenship.<\/p>\n

Though they successfully contacted Durov, \u201che was unreceptive to these private requests to improve moderation on the platform,\u201d Haaretz <\/i>wrote.<\/p>\n

Durov\u2019s arrest follows recent efforts in western countries to silence journalists and analysts critical of Israel.<\/p>\n

On 7 August, the FBI raided the home of US journalist and former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who contributes to RT and is harshly critical of US policy in Ukraine and Israel.<\/p>\n

The raid on Ritter\u2019s home came 24 hours after he stated in an interview with Judge Andrew Napolitano that religious Jewish Israelis were citing the Talmud to justify sexually assaulting and torturing Palestinian detainees at the notorious Sde Teiman<\/a> detention camp.<\/p>\n

Syrian-British journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested and held for 24 hours upon his arrival at Heathrow Airport earlier this month, he announced on 20 August.<\/p>\n

Medhurst stated via social media that six police officers were waiting for him as he exited his plane in London on 15 August, adding that he was questioned under the Terrorism Act<\/a>, Section 12.<\/p>\n

Go to Original – thecradle.co<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

27 Aug 2024 – Billionaire Russian born Telegram founder Pavel Durov is being held in custody by French authorities as part of a cyber-criminality investigation. Telegram has been the ‘least cooperative’ among the social media sites in responding to Israeli censorship requests during its genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":272624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1785,1268,1675,651,1006,3361],"class_list":["post-272547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","tag-censorship","tag-european-union","tag-france","tag-justice","tag-social-media","tag-telegram"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272547"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272636,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272547\/revisions\/272636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}