Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov – already embroiled in legal troubles in France – faces a new headache as EU regulators launch an investigation into whether his messaging app has violated digital rules, according to a report.
EU legal and data experts suspect that Telegram misreported that the platform had fewer than 45 million users, which remains below a key threshold above which large online platforms face much stricter regulations on their influence. The Financial Times reported Thursday.
Telegram, which has around 1 billion users worldwide, reported in February that it had 41 million users in the EU — but it failed to provide an updated figure due this month.
Earlier this year, Durov told the FT that Telegram's user base was “proportional to the population of each market [or] No impact on the continent” – except in China.
Two EU officials told the FT that Telegram's failure to provide the most up-to-date data on its user base violates the Digital Services Act, a law enacted last year to regulate big tech firms such as Meta, Google, Amazon, TikTok and others.
Once the 45 million user threshold is exceeded, a set of regulations required by Brussels will come into force, such as a ban on targeted advertising, steps to prevent the spread of misinformation or disinformation, and a data-sharing arrangement with the European Commission – the EU's executive arm responsible for enforcing laws.
“We have a way of determining, through our own systems and calculations, how accurate user data is,” European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier told the FT.
“And if we believe they are not providing accurate user data, we may designate them unilaterally [as a very large platform] Based on our own investigation.”
The Post has sought comment from Telegram.
Durov was Seen in a fresh video released on Thursday He was released from French custody after appearing before a judge near Paris.
He was detained on Saturday at Le Bourget airport outside Paris as part of a wider investigation was arrested this year, and released on Wednesday after four days of questioning.
Investigating judges filed preliminary charges on Wednesday night and then released him on $5.6 million bail.
Read the latest update on the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov:
He has been ordered to remain in the country and appear at a police station twice a week, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor's office.
Allegations against Durov, also a French citizen, include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and Telegram has refused to share information or documents with investigators even when required by law.
The prosecutor's office said the first preliminary charge against him was for “complicity in the management of an online platform to allow illegal transactions by an organized group,” a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of more than half a million dollars.
Under French law, preliminary charges mean that the magistrate has strong reasons to believe a crime was committed, but more time is given for further investigation.
Durov's lawyer, David-Olivier Kaminsky, was quoted by French media as saying that “it is completely absurd to think that a person in charge of a social network could be involved in criminal acts that have no connection to him, directly or indirectly.”
Prosecutors said Durov is “the only person currently charged in this case.”
He did not rule out the possibility that others were also being investigated, but declined to comment on other possible arrest warrants.
