France Uses New Cybercrime Law To Target Telegram Boss Pavel Durov

JAKARTA - The French government recently implemented a harsh cybercrime law to prosecute Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, regarding alleged involvement in organized crimes on its platform. Durov is now under investigation under the LOPMI Law (Loi d'Orimentation et de Programmation du Minesère de l'Intrerieur), which was passed in January 2023. The law allows the government to prosecute technology leaders if their platform is used for illegal transactions or criminal activity.

Pavel Durov has been accused of conspiring in "online platform management to enable illegal transactions by organized groups," which is threatened with a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine of 500,000 euros (around Rp. 8.4 billion). Despite being under formal investigation, Durov denies Telegram as an "serega of anarchy" and asserts that its platform complies with EU law.

The new LOPMI Law has never been tested in court, so attempts to sue figures like Durov could fail if a French judge refuses to criminalize a technology leader simply for criminal activity on their platform. However, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau praised the law as a powerful tool to fight organized crimes that are increasingly operating online.

International law experts consider that there are no similar laws in other Western countries. Adam Hickey, a former assistant deputy deputy attorney general of the US, stated that this French law is more aggressive than the one in force in the US, where a technology leader can only be convicted if found to have intentionally facilitated criminal activity on their platform. Cases like Ross Ulbricht, which runs the Silk Road crime site, are one example where US law has succeeded in convicting platform owners.

Pavel Durov is currently free on bail, but his investigation is still ongoing and could take years before his case is brought to justice or canceled. So far, Telegram has rejected allegations that their platform is pushing organized crime.

With this new law, France has introduced one of the strictest legal devices in the world to deal with cybercrime. If successful, this law could pave the way for other countries to follow France's footsteps in tightening regulations against technology platforms deemed to have the potential to facilitate criminal activities.