Russia: Telegram CEO takes ‘too open’ approach to social media management

Points to take away:

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who is imprisoned in France, was brought down by his “too open” leadership style of the social network.
• In a speech to students at the top MGIMO university in Moscow, run by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov underlined the Kremlin's claim that the investigation into Durov was part of a larger Western political conspiracy to influence Russia.
• According to Yonhap news agency, South Korean police have launched an investigation into Telegram to determine whether the encrypted messaging service was involved in the distribution of sexually explicit deepfake videos.

Telegram’s CEO management approach

A French judge officially investigated Russian-born Durov last week for allegedly helping to run an online platform that facilitates illegal transactions, child sexual abuse images, drug trafficking and fraud.

His lawyer said the suggestion that he could be held responsible for any crimes committed through the app was “absurd.” The app has nearly a billion users and is popular in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet states.

In a speech to students at Moscow's elite MGIMO university, which is under the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov reiterated the Kremlin's position that the investigation into Durov was part of a larger political plot by the West to exert power over Russia.

“Pavel Durov was too free. He did not listen to the West’s advice to moderate his brainchild,” Lavrov said.

After years of pressure on Durov and his technology companies, Russia has now thrown its weight behind him.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that there were no negotiations between the Kremlin and Durov, who also holds passports from France and the United Arab Emirates.

“The main thing is that what is happening in France does not become political persecution,” Peskov said last Thursday.

“We know that the French President denies any political connection (to the case), but on the other hand, certain allegations are being made.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has denied any political motive for the technology entrepreneur's imprisonment.

Lavrov had previously warned that Durov's arrest – the first of a CEO of a major tech industry – had brought relations between Moscow and Paris to a new low.

Korean authorities have begun investigating whether Telegram facilitates cyber sex crimes

According to Yonhap news agency, South Korean police have launched an investigation into Telegram to determine whether the encrypted messaging service was involved in the distribution of sexually explicit deepfake videos.

Yonhap quoted the head of the National Office of Investigation as saying that the cyber investigation bureau declined to comment on the report.

The launch of an investigation would follow public and political outrage over digital deepfake pornography featuring South Korean women. Local media reported that such content is often found in Telegram chatrooms.

This would go a step further than the comments made on Monday by Cho Ji-ho, commissioner of the National Policy Agency, who said his agency was examining whether secure messaging apps should be investigated and accused of aiding and abetting crimes.

South Korean authorities last week announced a crackdown on sexually exploitative deepfake crimes, coinciding with a French investigation into Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram, as authorities there investigate organized crime on the platform.

When asked in parliament about criminal activities on Telegram, Cho said investigations into secure messaging providers had proven complicated and time-consuming.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Monday. Last week it said it actively moderated harmful content on the platform, including illegal pornography.

South Korea is the country most affected by deepfake pornography. According to a 2023 global deepfake report by Security Hero, a US startup specializing in identity theft protection, the country's singers and actresses account for 53% of the people depicted in such deepfakes.

The country's police say the number of deepfake sex crime cases they have handled so far this year has risen to 297. By comparison, in the whole of 2021, when the data was first collected, there were 156. Most of the victims and perpetrators are teenagers, it says.

In addition to urging social media companies to cooperate more actively in deleting and blocking such content, South Korea's media regulator has also asked French authorities to regularly cooperate on Telegram-related issues and facilitate direct communication with Telegram.

In addition, the South Korean government announced on Friday that it would push for stricter laws to criminalize the purchase or viewing of sexually exploitative deepfakes.