“The arrest of Pavel Durov marks the emergence of sovereign digital spaces”

LThe debates surrounding the arrest and custody of Pavel Durov in Paris and its consequences for the Telegram platform are conducive to contrasting judgments and digital controversies. This is because the application and its founder allow the worst as well as the best.

For the best, it is the story of a platform that was built in opposition to censorship and digital surveillance in Russia. After the Russian authorities took over the social network VKontakte that he had created, Pavel Durov went into exile in Dubai in 2014 to develop the Telegram application, escaping the political regulators and security services of his home country. Initially confidential, the new network quickly became successful, particularly in Russia, where it became the preferred communication medium for all opponents of the regime (independent journalists, human rights defenders, opposition activists, etc.).

In 2018, exasperated by its excesses of freedom, the Russian authorities tried to block the application on its soil, but failed in the face of the inventiveness of Telegram’s designers, who found technical ways to circumvent censorship. The demonstrations then organized to protest against the blocking, with, in particular, the participation of Alexei Navalny, made Pavel Durov the herald of the free Internet in Russia. Since then, Telegram has hosted the most diverse content. The democratic Russian media (Novaïa Gazeta, Dojd, Meduza…) remain there. It is one of the last places of media and political pluralism for opponents banned from the public space and, now, since the massive aggression of Ukraine, mostly forced into exile.

Support for malfeasance

Worse still, since it was unable to ban the application, the Russian state chose to use it and circulate its official and unofficial content. Russian institutions have opened their channels (such as the Russian Ministry of Defense) as have propagandists, who relay its war policy. In Russia and well beyond its borders, the platform has been taken over by traffickers of all kinds. It is home to drug, arms and prostitution networks, as well as the most diverse conspiracy websites.

Within the European Union (EU), in an open media context, the Telegram application is of little interest to news sites, political movements or associative projects, which have other communication spaces. On the other hand, illicit content thrives there. All you have to do is connect to it to order cocaine, ketamine and chemical substances of all kinds. In cities as well as in the countryside, Telegram allows embezzlement with complete discretion. However, you have to be a player in this trafficking yourself, seller or consumer, to access this content. There is no recommendation system on Telegram, and you can only find this content if you look for it. This means that the application is a medium for malicious practices that pre-existed it and will probably outlive it.

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