UN: Case of Telegram founder Durov raises human rights concerns

Geneva — The arrest and charging of Telegram founder Pavel Durov is a complex case which raises a lot of human rights concerns, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The Russian-born chief of the popular but controversial messaging app was sensationally detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on August 24 and then charged with a litany of violations related to the messaging app. He was also banned from leaving France. Numerous questions have been raised about the timing and circumstances of Durov's detention, with supporters seeing the 39-year-old as a freedom of speech champion and detractors as a menace who willfully allowed Telegram to get out of control. "This is a very complex case. It raises a lot of human rights concerns," said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Human Rights Office. She told a media briefing that the Geneva-based agency was considering publishing a paper setting out "the parameters within which these situations should be looked at." She also cited the recent blocking of X in Brazil, where the country's supreme court on Monday ratified the decision by one of its judges to suspend the social media platform for alleged judicial transgressions. Brazil's suspension of X "also raises similar concerns about states having the duty to ensure that social media platforms comply with the law that freedom of expression is permitted," but in line with certain restrictions, Shamdasani said.

She called for any restrictions that are imposed to be "proportional" and "in line with international human rights standards." "So we are following this case, and it's difficult for us to get more specific at this point" on the case and on the charges against Durov, because the U.N. Human Rights Office does not have access "to the full information." She said states should be able to regulate platforms, with regulations comply with laws consistent with international human rights law. "The principles of legality, necessity and proportionality, hate speech, incitement to hatred or violence, harmful disinformation, need to be addressed," she said. U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk wrote to the owner of X Elon Musk in November 2022, urging him to make respect for human rights central to the social network. In an open letter, Türk warned against propagating hate speech and misinformation and highlighted the need to protect user privacy.

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