Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, was detained in France on August 24. He faces charges of complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group, refusal to provide information or documents to authorized bodies at their request, and concealment of crimes acting in a group. Mr. Durov was released on €5 million bail, banned from leaving France and required to report to the police twice a week.

The Telegram case highlights the clash between private and public interests. On the one hand, the public has a justified interest in the timely detection and prevention of crime and minimization of illegal content, while, on the other hand, users have guaranteed rights to privacy of correspondence and freedom of speech. Telegram has faced this issue for a long time: the messenger has had problems in Germany, where the authorities threatened to block it because extremist groups used it to coordinate their activities. Russia also attempted to block Telegram when the messenger refused to provide the keys for deciphering the messages to the security services. The messenger went on to engage in a conflict with the government agencies in Russia, which ended in its temporary block in 2018.

The real opportunities to fight platforms that do not comply with legal requirements in terms of content moderation and co-operation with law enforcement are scarce; blocks are easily circumvented and do not promote compliance. Many platforms, including Telegram, do not register in jurisdictions where they have many users, so that they can argue that the local laws do not apply to them.

On the one hand, an individual, especially a traveling one, is easier to reach and the fear for personal security may indeed influence company policy. On the other hand, there is a fair question on the limits of liability and elasticity of causation between the crime and the act of refusing to co-operate with the state and to comply with its requirements. This is probably the question that Pavel Durov case will have to answer in the first place.