Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been banned from leaving French territory after being charged with complicity in running an online platform that allegedly allowed the dissemination of sexual images of children, creating an uncertain future for the messaging app that has become one of the world’s largest social media platforms.
Durov was arrested on Saturday at 8 p.m. local time after his private plane landed at an airport near Paris. He was then detained for four days as part of an investigation into alleged criminal activity on Telegram. On Wednesday evening local time, he was charged and banned from leaving the country, according to a statement released by the Paris prosecutor. He was released under judicial supervision, according to the statement, and must pay bail of 5 million euros ($5.5 million) and report to a police station in France twice a week.
The founder of Telegram has been placed under formal investigation on a range of charges relating to child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking, importing cryptocurrencies without prior declaration, as well as an “almost total absence” of cooperation with French authorities, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Wednesday.
French authorities have noted an “almost total lack of response from Telegram to judicial requests,” Beccuau said. “This is what led JUNALCO (the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime) to open an investigation into the possible criminal responsibility of the managers of this messaging service in the commission of these crimes,” he said. The preliminary investigation began in February 2024 and the first inquiries were coordinated by OFMIN, an agency created to prevent violence against minors, his statement added.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform,” Telegram said on Sunday, before Durov was charged. The platform, which has 900 million active users, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the charges.
Since his arrest, both the United Arab Emirates and Russia have requested consular access to Durov, who has citizenship in both countries. It is unclear why Durov, who also obtained a French passport after leaving Russia, was in France. “I don’t take holidays,” he said on his Telegram channel in June.
Russia has claimed, without evidence, that Durov’s arrest is an attempt by the United States to exert influence over the platform through France. “Telegram is one of the few and at the same time the largest internet platform over which the United States has no influence,” Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said on the app.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that Durov’s arrest was “in no way a political decision.” “It is up to the judiciary, with full independence, to enforce the law,” he added. in a post on X. The European Commission told WIRED that the arrest was carried out in accordance with French criminal law and is not related to new EU rules for tech platforms. “We are closely following the developments related to Telegram and stand ready to cooperate with the French authorities should this be relevant,” said a spokesperson who asked not to be named.
