Startup DreamersStartup Dreamers
  • Home
  • Startup
  • Money & Finance
  • Starting a Business
    • Branding
    • Business Ideas
    • Business Models
    • Business Plans
    • Fundraising
  • Growing a Business
  • More
    • Innovation
    • Leadership
Trending

Recycling Shells For Baby Oysters Reaps Financial, Environmental Gains

June 26, 2025

College Majors and Careers That Make the Most Money: Report

June 26, 2025

Anthropic Scores a Landmark AI Copyright Win—but Will Face Trial Over Piracy Claims

June 26, 2025
Facebook Twitter Instagram
  • Newsletter
  • Submit Articles
  • Privacy
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Startup DreamersStartup Dreamers
  • Home
  • Startup
  • Money & Finance
  • Starting a Business
    • Branding
    • Business Ideas
    • Business Models
    • Business Plans
    • Fundraising
  • Growing a Business
  • More
    • Innovation
    • Leadership
Subscribe for Alerts
Startup DreamersStartup Dreamers
Home » Telegram Faces a Reckoning in Europe. Other Founders Should Beware
Startup

Telegram Faces a Reckoning in Europe. Other Founders Should Beware

adminBy adminSeptember 6, 20241 ViewsNo Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

“[Elon] Musk and fellow executives should be reminded of their criminal liability,” said Bruce Daisley, a former executive at Twitter who worked at the company’s British office, days after British protesters tried to set fire to a hotel for asylum seekers.

But Telegram has provoked politicians more than any other platform. What could be called the company’s uncollaborative approach has put the platform—part messaging app, part social media network—on a collision course with governments around the world.

The case in France is far from the first time Telegram has been reprimanded by authorities for its refusal to cooperate. Telegram has been temporarily suspended twice in Brazil, in 2022 and 2023, both times after being accused of failing to cooperate with legal orders.

In 2022, similar events unfolded in Germany when the country’s interior minister also threatened to ban the app after letters, suggestions of fines, and even a Telegram-dedicated task force all went unanswered, according to the authorities, who were concerned about anti-lockdown groups using the app to discuss political assassinations. Multiple German newspapers, including the tabloid Bild, sent journalists to the office that Telegram states as its headquarters in Dubai and found it deserted, its doors locked.

Earlier in 2024, Spain briefly blocked Telegram after broadcasters claimed copyrighted material was circulating on the app. Judge Santiago Pedraz of Spain’s National High Court said his decision to ban was based on Telegram’s lack of cooperation with the case.

The accusations in France are very specific to Telegram’s way of working, says Arne Möhle, cofounder of encrypted email service Tuta. “Of course it’s important to be independent, but at the same time, it’s also important to comply with authority requests if they are valid,” he says. “It’s important to show [criminal activities are] something you don’t want to support with your privacy-oriented service.”

France’s decision to charge Durov is a rare move to link a tech executive to crimes taking place on their platform, but it is not without precedent. Durov joins the ranks of the founders of The Pirate Bay, who were sentenced by Swedish authorities to a year in prison in 2009, and the German-born founder of Megaupload, Kim Dotcom, who finally lost a 12-year battle to be extradited to the US from his home in New Zealand in August. He plans to appeal.

Yet Durov is the first of his generation of founders behind major social media platforms to face such severe consequences. What happens next will carry lessons for them all.

Bastien Le Querrec, legal officer at French digital freedom group La Quadrature du Net, does not defend Telegram’s lack of moderation. But he is concerned that the case against Durov reflects the huge pressure both social media and messaging apps are under right now to collaborate with law enforcement.

“[The prosecutor] refers to a provision in French law that requires platforms to disclose any useful document that could allow law enforcement to do interception of communication,” he says. “To our knowledge, it’s the first time that a platform, whatever its size, would be prosecuted [in France] because it refused to disclose such documents. It’s a very worrying precedent.”

Read the full article here

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Articles

Anthropic Scores a Landmark AI Copyright Win—but Will Face Trial Over Piracy Claims

Startup June 26, 2025

Those Creatine Gummies You Bought Online Might Not Contain Any Creatine

Startup June 24, 2025

A False Start on the Road to an All-American Bitcoin

Startup June 23, 2025

This AI Model Never Stops Learning

Startup June 22, 2025

Companies Warn SEC That Mass Deportations Pose Serious Business Risk

Startup June 20, 2025

Unpacking AI Agents | WIRED

Startup June 19, 2025
Add A Comment

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Editors Picks

Recycling Shells For Baby Oysters Reaps Financial, Environmental Gains

June 26, 2025

College Majors and Careers That Make the Most Money: Report

June 26, 2025

Anthropic Scores a Landmark AI Copyright Win—but Will Face Trial Over Piracy Claims

June 26, 2025

Dbrand Responds To Killswitch Switch 2 Backlash With Promised Fix

June 25, 2025

This One Leadership Move Will Transform Your Team’s Loyalty and Performance

June 25, 2025

Latest Posts

Today’s ‘Wordle’ #1466 Hints, Clues And Answer For Tuesday, June 24th

June 24, 2025

How to Use Micro-Acquisitions to Scale Faster and Smarter

June 24, 2025

Successful Entrepreneurs Outsource These 5 Tasks — Do You?

June 24, 2025

How Learning to Sell Helped My Startup Earn $400M in Revenue

June 24, 2025

Those Creatine Gummies You Bought Online Might Not Contain Any Creatine

June 24, 2025
Advertisement
Demo

Startup Dreamers is your one-stop website for the latest news and updates about how to start a business, follow us now to get the news that matters to you.

Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest YouTube
Sections
  • Growing a Business
  • Innovation
  • Leadership
  • Money & Finance
  • Starting a Business
Trending Topics
  • Branding
  • Business Ideas
  • Business Models
  • Business Plans
  • Fundraising

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest business and startup news and updates directly to your inbox.

© 2025 Startup Dreamers. All Rights Reserved.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Press Release
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

GET $5000 NO CREDIT