Hong Kong courts have previously convicted people who have used Telegram channels to call for protests on charges including inciting criminal activity and inciting attacks on police officers.
But cybersecurity experts told The Post that local legal action is unlikely to succeed because concerns remain over vague rules on content regulated by social media and instant messaging services.
“The 2019 protests are now well past time, and the app was reportedly used widely by anti-government elements in Hong Kong at the time,” said Steve Vickers, CEO of international political and corporate risk consultancy Steve Vickers & Associates. “Making overt waves at this point would be counterproductive.”
Vickers added that city authorities should simply monitor legal developments in the French case, as law enforcement could use any “vulnerabilities” revealed by the investigation in their investigations.
The app is known for its enhanced security features and the ability to add up to 200,000 members to groups, whose users include protesters and rally organizers across continents.
These include content channels about the war between Russia and Ukraine and its use in recent anti-immigrant riots in the UK.
Hong Kong fan clubs are also known to use Telegram as a forum for members to discuss celebrity news and organize activities.
It is one of the most popular instant messaging apps in the world, with nearly 1 billion users worldwide.
Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary chairman of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said Durov's arrest was a “wake-up call” in Hong Kong and elsewhere about the possibility of similar prosecutions.
“If this case is verified, [Durov] “The prison time will be a wake-up call for other social media platforms,” Fong warned. “It's unclear how governments and law enforcement will determine what is satisfactory. [regulation].”
The three cybersecurity experts, including Vickers and Fong, said that despite Telegram's widespread use, the app is not off-limits to regulators.
“Telegram is [allow users to] “It allows you to see other users nearby and can be used to organize and direct crowds in disturbance situations or demonstrations,” Vickers explained.
Anthony Lai Cheuk-tong, security researcher and director at cybersecurity firm VX Research, described Telegram as being more “defiant” than rivals WhatsApp and iMessage when it came to cooperating with law enforcement requests.
“Telegram has resisted efforts in some countries to legally compel it to access user data, which has resulted in the service being blocked in those locations,” Lai said. “However, Telegram's terms of service allow it to cooperate with lawful disclosure orders.”
We have contacted Telegram and the Security Agency for comment.
A Hong Kong police spokesman did not comment directly on Durov's case but said: “In any investigative activities, the police will act based on actual circumstances and in accordance with the law.”
Russia banned Telegram in 2018 after the platform refused to hand over encrypted messages to Russian security services.
The ban was lifted in 2020, but due to the difficulty of blocking Telegram's IP addresses, the service remained unaffected despite the embargo.
But Joshua Chew Kiu-wa, a technology lawyer at law firm Hausen, said the outcome of Durov's case if it goes to court could influence how authorities respond to social media and online platform owners, as many countries have yet to develop clear rules about the responsibility of online platforms in preventing crime.
“Durov's case may serve as a wake-up call for social media companies to reconsider their content moderation policies and protection measures,” Chu said.
He added that the incident could also spur the development of clearer policies around messaging services.
Chu added that prosecutors should use discovery orders to address misconduct on online platforms, rather than arresting the owners.
He said it was up to law enforcement agencies, not online platform operators, to intervene to stop illegal activity.
Dubai-based Telegram was founded in 2013 by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after failing to comply with government demands to remove opposition activists from VK, a social media platform he had sold.