The arrest of Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, on suspicion of allowing criminal activity on his platform has nothing to do with the company’s obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a spokesperson for the European Commission told Euronews on Monday, Euronews reports.

 

“Criminal prosecution is not among the potential sanctions for a breach of the DSA. The DSA does not define what is illegal nor does it establish any criminal offence and can therefore not be invoked for arrests. Only national [or international] laws that define a criminal offence can be invoked,” the spokesperson said.

 

“We are closely monitoring the developments related to Telegram and stand ready to cooperate with the French authorities should it be relevant,” the Commission added.

 

Russian-born Durov was arrested after he flew into Le Bourget airport outside Paris on his private jet on Saturday night. France apprehended him on claims that the lack of moderators on Telegram allowed criminal activity, such as drug dealing and paedophile networking.

 

Telegram has become a popular platform for selling hard drugs because of its end-to-end encrypted messaging, which makes it difficult for law enforcement authorities to monitor the activities of vendors. Law enforcement authorities in countries including Lithuania, Germany and the Netherlands said in recent months that they have noticed a rise in online drug trafficking.