From drug dealers to Putin critics: Behind Pavel Durov's rare Telegram audience | Social media

In the past, you had to collude with criminal elements to buy drugs in Bishkek, the capital of Central Asia's Kyrgyzstan. Today, anyone with a smartphone can order amphetamines, hashish and other illegal substances and be immediately redirected to a dead letter box hidden somewhere in the city.

The app at the center of everything? Telegram.

“Everything really runs on Telegram: All shops, platforms and chats run there,” explains Dina*, a young courier in her early twenties. “It’s convenient and confidential.”

There are channels for everything from job postings to cryptocurrency exchanges, she said. Dina started as a courier at 19 and “wanted to make easy money.”

“In a few days they told me the location of the main treasure [wholesale consignment]. You go and pick up 10 pre-packaged packages, then distribute them in the areas you are told to and take photos. [of the hiding spot] and every two weeks you will receive a payment in your crypto wallet.”

How easily and safely the app can be used for illegal purposes is now in focus after Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested in Paris on Saturday evening as he disembarked from his private jet.

Durov is accused of facilitating cybercrimes such as fraud, drug trafficking and child pornography by failing to remove them from his platform and failing to cooperate with regulators on the matter. Telegram is a major platform for drug trafficking, not only in former Soviet states but elsewhere as well – including in France, where Paris-based cannabis delivery service Cali Weed promotes its products and recruits couriers through the app.

But it is precisely the laissez-faire approach inherent in Durov's criticism that is also the reason why Telegram is so popular with a wide audience: Russians as well as Ukrainians, government critics as well as propagandists.

“I am outraged by the arrest of Pavel Durov,” Russian Social Democratic politician Nikolai Kavkazsky told Al Jazeera. “Pavel is trying to create a platform without censorship. Of course, he doesn't always succeed, but of the platforms I know, it is now one of the freest.”

The St. Petersburg-born entrepreneur, who holds French and Emirati citizenship, became a hero to Russian liberals when he refused to shut down opposition pages on VK – the Russian equivalent of Facebook, which he co-founded – during mass protests against President Vladimir Putin in 2011. A few years later, he was ousted from his own social network after he succumbed to pressure from pro-Kremlin investors, sold his own stake in the company and moved to Dubai, from where he launched Telegram.

Telegram is not just a messaging app, but also a means of sharing news and media. It is the most popular channel, delivering content to millions of subscribers. Supposedly free from government control, it provides a platform for unfiltered and uncensored material in countries like Russia and Iran.

“In Russia, this is probably the only major platform where people can share their oppositional, pro-peace views with a wide audience without having to circumvent various forms of blocking,” Kavkazsky said. Russian platforms like VK – which is now controlled by pro-Putin oligarchs – can censor, ban or restrict such content, he said.

Of course, this comes at a price. The almost total lack of control has meant that anyone can share anything – including revenge porn, child sexual abuse and, if Russian authorities are to be believed, suspected “terrorists.”

Telegram was banned in Russia in 2018 amid a conflict between Durov and Russia's intelligence agency, the FSB. The FSB demanded that the app reveal its encryption keys, ostensibly to monitor those it described as “terrorists.” Durov publicly refused, but the ban was lifted two years later when a compromise was apparently reached. This allowed suspects' phone numbers and IP addresses to be given to authorities, but not access to their messages or encryption.

“We do not allow the state to install cameras in our homes to prevent crime, so why do we have to give up our privacy to make law enforcement's work easier?” says Artem Kozlyuk, co-founder of the Russian digital rights organization Roskomsvoboda.

“You cannot blame the service if someone uses it for criminal activities. A knife can be used to cut vegetables or to kill, but we do not prohibit the distribution of household knives.”

Since 2020, however, some Kremlin critics have been skeptical of the platform. For example, during protests in the central Russian region of Bashkortostan earlier this year, security authorities appeared to have access to activists' data. Some in the Russian opposition suspect that despite Telegram's stated commitment to data protection, authorities are able to read their chats, either due to security flaws or a secret agreement with the Russian government.

“Telegram does not use end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in its chats by default – a tool that ensures that only the sender and the intended recipient(s) can see the message,” explained Natalia Krapiva, senior technical legal advisor at the international digital rights organization Access Now.

While Access Now is concerned about Durov's detention, it has also pointed out flaws in Telegram's design and lack of oversight.

“Users must manually opt in to use E2EE's 'secret chats,' which are limited to two users, meaning group chats are never end-to-end encrypted… Telegram's failure to implement end-to-end encryption for messages by default has left the platform's users and their data vulnerable to hackers and government pressure.”

“Like any other Internet service – Facebook, Google – Telegram receives government requests and partially fulfills them,” Kozlyuk added. “If something like this [co-operation with the FSB] If anything comes out, it will severely discredit Durov and his reputation. No one else would use his services. And such sensitive stories tend to leak out sooner or later.”

Nevertheless, Telegram has proven to be a key source of news during the Russian-Ukrainian war. Pro-Kremlin figures such as warmongering former President Dmitry Medvedev and militaristic so-called Z-bloggers have used it to exaggerate Russian victories while denigrating Ukraine and its Western backers.

Concerned about disinformation, Ukrainian politicians have considered banning the app. But the app's millions of Ukrainian users have proven that this is impractical. Telegram is one of the fastest ways to send warnings about impending air strikes. Moreover, almost every public official uses Telegram, including President Volodymyr Zelensky himself.

French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that the charges against Durov were not politically motivated, but analysts say many will likely see the businessman's arrest as linked to the larger geopolitics of the time.

“The French judicial authorities will be very careful not to portray the ongoing proceedings against Pavel Durov and Telegram as a matter of freedom of expression,” political scientist Aleksandar Djokic told Al Jazeera. “Outside the justice system, however, Durov's arrest will also be viewed from a political perspective.”

In his opinion, the “Cold War aspect” overlaps with the debate about freedom of expression – in particular the question of whether an uncensored telegram serves Russian interests.

“Moderation is carried out at a very low level, while it is used by both official Russian circles and their media, as well as by the Russian opposition and the Ukrainian side,” Djokic stressed.

Both Kremlin confidants and the Russian opposition – including allies of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny – criticized the arrest. In doing so, Durov brought together opposing poles – both within Russia and in relation to the war with Ukraine.