Many French government sites faced DoS (Denial of Service) following the arrest of Pavel Durov, CEO of messaging app Telegram, in France. Pavel was detained at Le Bourget airport on Saturday evening on account of Telegram’s lack of moderation, which in turn paves the way for crimes including drug trafficking, distribution of child sexual abuse material, and fraud. It was accompanied by charges of failure to cooperate with law enforcement agencies.
The arrest faced a backlash from free speech activists and the crypto community and sparked a series of cyberattacks on government sites by hacktivist groups. The targeted sites include French government site for information on public services, Administrative Court of Paris, the website of La Voix du Nord (French newspaper), the website of the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) in France, the site of Confédération Paysanne (French agricultural union) and PriceBank (French financial website).
The hacker groups claiming responsibility for these attacks include the Russian Cyber Army Team (a.k.a People’s Cyber Army), UserSec, RipperSec among others. The hacker groups were seen using hashtags #FreeDurov, #opDurov and #ForJustice in their “FreeDurov” movement.
French President Emmanuel Macron, made the first official confirmation of Durov’s arrest, stating there was no political motive in the arrest, despite many false comments online. However, Kremlin propagandists are putting forward theories implying Durov’s arrest was orchestrated to gain access to Telegram’s data. They are urging users to cease using the platform for sensitive conversations and delete all work related messages from the app.
Telegram handles most of Russia’s messenger traffic including Russian military. Povernutie na Z Voine, a popular Russian military blogger channel, stated in a Telegram post, “They practically detained the head of communications for the Russian Army”. The app is also used by Ukrainan citizens and army for blogging about the war and raising funds for the army.
Vyacheslav Volodin, a prominent Russian politician, accused the US of being behind the arrest of Mr Durov, stating “Telegram is one of the few and, at the same time, the largest internet platforms over which the United States has no influence.”
Amidst all the conspiracy theories surrounding the arrest, the implications of the arrest for fundraising efforts and financial stability of the platform after this arrest remain uncertain.
