Whoa, it's absurd if true... I fail to see how being responsible for not cooperating with authorities can be turned into being accused of these crimes. And I don't care for the legal gymnastics which makes this possible - the law exists to serve the public interest and is of no inherent value.
In every country I know of, the freedom to not be responsible for what your user's do on a platform includes certain requirements. Removing illegal content is the very least a platform must do.
Every country has their own definition of "illegal" content, but things like CSAM are illegal everywhere, and that's one area where Telegram never really bothered to take action.
The arrest warrant has been out for a while, so I doubt Durov got himself arrested by accident. He probably has a plan, or at least good lawyers.
Not true. That charge was dropped. He was convicted of numerous other charges related to running Silk Road: Engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, distributing narcotics, distributing narcotics by means of the Internet, conspiring to distribute narcotics, etc.
Why do I bring that line of reasoning up? Because an actually exhaustive traversal of 2nd-6th order effects renders everyone complicit in something, especially in the presence of things criminalizing not looking for things.
You should never count yourself out of being a complicit party for something, and realize that if you're going to impose a penalty on a group you consider a "them"; it is likely only a matter of time invested enumerating your effects in the world to make evident something they did has been enabled by you. Even if only by you not making the choice to do something about them.
Bad things will happen. We can't prevent them all. And trying to zero any class of bad thing has so many onock on effects, that even the most trivial sounding solutions need be met with strictest scritiny to figure out what they will break.
The Silk Road was designed and marketed explicitly towards criminals to facilitate crime and AFAIK had practically no other uses. So, it's not a reasonable comparison.
So if I own and operate a hardware store (or any other storefront) and do nothing about people who are clearly using it to deal fentanyl, I'm absolved of all wrong doing?
