Russian-born billionaire detained last month in France denies app is ‘anarchic
paradise’
The founder of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, under investigation in
France, has said that French authorities should have approached his company with
their complaints rather than detaining him, calling the arrest ‘“misguided”.
Durov, writing on his Telegram channel early on Friday in his first public
comments since his detention last month, denied any suggestion the app was an
“anarchic paradise”.
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Tag - Europe
Also signed by the EU, US and Israel, the declaration aims to mitigate the
threats that AI may pose to human rights, democracy and the rule of law
The UK government has signed the first international treaty on artificial
intelligence in a move that aims to prevent misuses of the technology, such as
spreading misinformation or using biased data to make decisions.
Under the legally binding agreement, states must implement safeguards against
any threats posed by AI to human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The
treaty, called the framework convention on artificial intelligence, was drawn up
by the Council of Europe, an international human rights organisation, and was
signed on Thursday by the EU, UK, US and Israel.
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Guidelines also stipulate teenagers should have no more than three hours of
screen time a day
Children under the age of two should not be exposed to any screens whatsoever
and teenagers should have no more than three hours of screen time a day,
according to guidelines announced by health authorities in Sweden.
Parents and guardians should think about how they use screens with their
children and tell them what they are doing on their phones when they use them in
their presence, the advice says.
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In isolation, Alexander Grothendieck seemed to have lost touch with reality, but
some say his metaphysical theories could contain wonders
One day in September 2014, in a hamlet in the French Pyrenean foothills,
Jean-Claude, a landscape gardener in his late 50s, was surprised to see his
neighbour at the gate. He hadn’t spoken to the 86-year-old in nearly 15 years
after a dispute over a climbing rose that Jean-Claude had wanted to prune. The
old man lived in total seclusion, tending to his garden in the djellaba he
always wore, writing by night, heeding no one. Now, the long-bearded seeker
looked troubled.
“Would you do me a favour?” he asked Jean-Claude.
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Pavel Durov will probably use French legal disputes to position himself as a
champion of free speech, say observers
When Pavel Durov came under criticism from Russian regulators over the spread of
pornography on the VKontakte social media platform he founded, the tech
entrepreneur responded mockingly by changing his Twitter handle from “VK CEO” to
“Porn King”.
More than a decade later, Durov’s anti-authoritarian stance and hands-off
approach to moderation have landed him in more serious trouble.
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On Saturday 24 April, the billionaire founder of the Telegram social media and
messaging app, Pavel Durov, was arrested by French authorities as he disembarked
from his private jet in Paris on his way from Azerbaijan. Officials said the
arrest was part of a cybercrime inquiry into criminal activity on the platform
and a lack of cooperation with law enforcement. Durov has since been formally
charged.
Durov, also known as the 'Russian Mark Zuckerberg' for having founded a similar
platform to Zuckerberg’s Facebook in Russia called VKontakte, is a self-styled
champion of free speech and has cultivated a reputation for being unwilling to
work with authorities to censor and more closely control what happens on his
platform. But his arrest has raised important questions about the extent to
which tech executives are responsible for how users employ their social media
networks. Chris Stokel-Walker, a technology journalist, explains the
implications of Durov's arrest for the tech sector
* Telegram CEO charged in France for ‘allowing criminal activity’ on messaging
app
* What the Telegram founder’s arrest means for the regulation of social media
firms
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Pavel Durov, who has French citizenship, faces prosecution over alleged failure
to suppress spread of sexual images of children and calls for violence
The head of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been charged by the French judiciary for
allegedly allowing criminal activity on the messaging app but avoided jail with
a €5m bail.
The Russian-born multi-billionaire, who has French citizenship, was granted
release on condition that he report to a police station twice a week and remain
in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
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The charges against Pavel Durov increases pressure on Brussels to enforce new
European law on the platform
The surprise arrest of the Russian-born co-founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov,
after he stepped off his private jet in Paris last Saturday night, has brought
the one-time fringe social network under the glare of the spotlight like never
before.
Durov’s arrest – after an investigation by the Paris prosecutor into organised
crime, child sex abuse images, fraud and money laundering on the platform – also
raises the stakes for the European Union, which has adopted the world’s most
ambitious laws to police the internet, notably the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Coming into force in November 2022, the DSA targets online platforms “too big to
care” – in the words of the EU commissioner, Thierry Breton – putting demands on
internet firms to remove illegal content, protect children, tackle
disinformation and other online harms.
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Once nicknamed the ‘Russian Zuckerberg’, Durov has boasted of being the
biological father of more than 100 children
The Russian-born tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov has founded wildly popular social
networks as well as a cryptocurrency, amassed a multibillion dollar fortune and
locked horns with authorities in Russia and around the world.
Still a few months shy of his 40th birthday, the man once nicknamed the “Russian
Zuckerberg” after the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg now finds himself under
arrest in France after being detained at a Paris airport this weekend.
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Billionaire CEO, who was travelling aboard his private jet, was subject of
arrest warrant, according to TV reports
Pavel Durov, billionaire co-founder and chief executive of the Telegram
messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday
evening, TF1 TV said, citing an unnamed source.
Durov was travelling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding he
had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France.
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