Russia is investigating Telegram founder Pavel Durov as part of a criminal case on the “facilitation of terrorist activities”, state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported, citing the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Durov could not be immediately reached for comment on the report, but in recent days, Telegram has denied a host of allegations by Russia that the app is a haven for criminal activity and compromised by both Western and Ukrainian intelligence.
Reports suggest that law enforcement agencies recorded more than 153,000 crimes committed using Telegram since 2022, including 33,000 cases categorized as sabotage, terrorism, or extremism. Authorities said security services had prevented 475 terrorist attacks that were allegedly organized through the messaging app, as reported by Turkey Today.
The report further adds that russian officials said 61 planned school mass killings were intercepted. These plots were reportedly carried out by teenagers who authorities claimed had been influenced by external coordinators communicating via Telegram.
Restrictions For Telegram
“The actions of the head of Telegram, P. Durov, are being investigated as part of a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 (assistance to terrorist activities) of the Criminal Code of Russia,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported in an article it said was “based on materials from the FSB of Russia”.
Telegram, which says it has more than 1 billion active users globally, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Russia’s state communications regulator has introduced restrictions on Telegram, which is hugely popular in Russia for public and private communications, over what it says is a failure by the company to delete extremist content.
Roskomnadzor said it had sent more than 150,000 formal requests to Telegram demanding the removal of illegal content over recent years.
Moscow is trying to get Russians to switch to the state-backed app known as MAX, which launched almost a year ago.
(with inputs from Reuters)
