France puts Telegram CEO's brother on wanted list

The brother of Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov, Nikolai Durov, has also been declared wanted in France.

Warrants for Pavel and his brother Nikolai, the platform’s co-founder, were issued on March 25 over charges including “complicity in possessing, distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in an organized group," Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The warrants were issued after an undercover investigation into Telegram led by the cybercrime branch of the Paris prosecutor's office, during which a suspect discussed luring underaged girls into sending "self-produced child pornography," and then threatening to release it on social media.

Pavel Durov was arrested on August 24 night by French police at Paris' Le Bourget airport after border officials warned judicial authorities he was arriving on his private jet from Azerbaijan.

His arrest has kicked off a diplomatic firestorm for the French government as well as a global outcry over free speech and the culpability of social media platforms for material shared by their users.