The spate of arrests, charges and convictions in the UK in the wake of racist attacks, triggered at least in part by misinformation on social media, has shone an uncomfortable spotlight on the truth that it is easier to take action against people who are incited by material they see on social platforms than it is to tackle the platforms themselves.
That’s why the French authorities’ arrest of Pavel Durov feels hugely significant. Durov, the chief executive of Telegram, is being held in custody in France as part of an investigation into cyber criminality. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the investigation concerns crimes related to illicit transactions, child sexual abuse images, fraud and the refusal to communicate information to authorities.
Essentially, the claim is that the messaging service has failed to address crime on the app, including the spread of child sexual abuse material, and that’s why the Russian-born billionaire (39) was stopped on Saturday at Le Bourget airport near Paris after stepping out of a private jet. The arrest warrant was issued by a French agency set up last year to prevent violence against minors.
The authorities now have until Wednesday evening to decide to press charges against Durov, release him without charges or name him as a witness in the investigation and let him go free.
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At the heart of the case, according to the Ofmin agency that issued the arrest warrant, is “the lack of moderation and co-operation of the platform”. The stakes could scarcely be higher here, as Irish politicians will know. Last November, a voice note shared on a private Telegram messaging group called on people to gather in Dublin city centre at 7pm and “kill” foreigners and was blamed for instigating the Dublin riots.
The Dubai-based company has asserted that Durov has “nothing to hide” and that Telegram abides by European laws. But its statement that “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform” is contentious. There are plenty of people who do not think that absurd at all.
Unless platforms and their owners are held responsible for abuse of their platforms, and unless hands-off moderation is treated as the danger to society that it is, then the capacity of social media companies to facilitate the spread of illegal and/or inflammatory content will never be blunted.
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