Pavel Durov says Russia designated him terrorist after refusing surveillance demands

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has stated that Russian authorities designated him a terrorist after he refused demands for mass surveillance and censorship on the messaging platform. Durov claims that Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) accused him of facilitating terrorism by failing to remove channels used by terrorist groups and Ukrainian intelligence.

In a separate development, Australia's eSafety Commissioner has initiated civil penalty proceedings against Telegram. The Australian regulator is seeking penalties totaling up to A$54.6 million (approximately $38 million) due to Telegram's alleged failure to remove extremist content from its platform. This content reportedly includes videos depicting mass shootings.