Leading technology platforms will no longer be the same after the arrest of Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram app messaging platform.
According to news reports he was arrested for lack of moderating the platform. The app he founded is accused of failure to cooperate with law enforcement over drug trafficking, child sexual content, and fraud or crimes committed by users of the platform.
His arrest has sent shock waves across the technology sector. Some have condemned it as a form of censorship. Although details of this arrest are not completely clear, it signals something that should be of great concern to all in the technology sector.
In the past, technology platforms have been accused of aiding criminal behaviour.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) once reported that it had conducted an investigation into child pornography on Meta-owned Instagram in collaboration with researchers at Stanford and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
“Paedophiles have long used the internet, but unlike the forums and file-transfer services that cater to people who have interest in illicit content, Instagram doesn’t merely host these activities. Its algorithms promote them,” the WSJl reported.
In response the Meta-owned Instagram responded by saying, the company was “continuously exploring ways to actively defend against this behaviour, and we set up an internal task force to investigate these claims and immediately address them”.
Meta acknowledged that the company in some cases received reports of child sexual abuse and failed to act on them, citing a software error that prevented them from being processed, which Meta said has since been fixed.
In addition, “We provided updated guidance to our content reviewers to more easily identify and remove predatory accounts,” the company representative said.
No one was arrested for such crimes that may have occurred within the Mplatform.
We know that founders and leaders of some of the leading technology platforms have been hauled in front of the US Congress for terrible things that may have happened on their platforms. So far, all of them have been left unscathed.
This decision by the French law enforcement authorities is significant for the technology industry. Will it set a precedent for dealing with technology platform founders? Who will be next? It is my hope that it won’t lead to further arrests as this is probably not the ideal approach to address challenges with issues on technology platforms.
If a founder is arrested for something done by users on the platform, what will stop the authorities from arresting founders of other websites or apps for something done by users? Would it be fair to arrest the Uber CEO for something done by a driver?
What seems to be missing are proper safeguards across platforms. Such a challenge requires new governance systems across the sector. Arresting one founder will not solve the broader online platforms’ challenge. Such governance systems should operate globally.
The arrest of Durov should be a matter of great concern for leaders across the world. How will it impact investigative journalism? Will it expose sources that were using it for safety? All of these questions and more should be considered and trigger an industry solution framework to avoid a similar action.
There has never been a better time to establish a governance body to oversee tech platforms as well as terms of reference to manage complex matters of online governance.
Telegram is an important platform, it is used for good and some may have used it for bad things. May the arrest of its founder not bring an end to the creation of great platforms that are making a difference in society.
Wesley Diphoko is a technology analyst. He has been operating at the intersection of media and technology as the Editor-In-Chief of FastCompany (SA) magazine.
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