- Edited
Just to set the record straight regarding the official explanation, here’s the gist of the prosecutor’s press release (August 28):
Against Durov:
— Complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable an illicit transaction, in an organised band;
— Refusal to communicate, at the request of authorised authorities, the information or documents necessary to the execution and the exploitation of the interceptions authorised by the law;
— Complicity in making available, without a legitimate reason, a programme or data designed to harm an automated data processing system, in diffusion of pedopornographic images in an organised band, in drug trafficking, fraud in organised band, in a criminal conspiracy to commit crimes or offences;
— Laundering of crimes or offences in an organised band;
— Provision of cryptology services to ensure confidentiality without declaration of conformity;
— Supply and import of a cryptology means that does not exclusively perform authentication or integrity control functions without prior declaration.
Preliminary investigation began in February 2024.
Coincidentally, also in February 2024, 10 persons were brought to court for selling teenagers’ sex tapes on Telegram.
Source: https://www.tribunal-de-paris.justice.fr/75/communiques-de-presse-1