Telegram founder Pavel Durov has criticised French authorities over their year-long investigation into alleged illegal content on his platform. He said investigators are “struggling” to find any wrongdoing since his high-profile arrest in Paris in 2024.
Durov, a 40-year-old Russian-born entrepreneur with French and Russian passports, was detained in France for four days last year. Authorities accused Telegram of enabling illicit transactions, child sex abuse material, and criminal coordination.
Durov insists neither he nor Telegram committed any offence, stressing the platform complies with legally binding moderation requests. “Arresting a CEO of a major platform over the actions of its users was not only unprecedented — it was legally and logically absurd,” he said.
The Telegram CEO argued that French authorities failed to follow proper legal procedures in their moderation inquiries. He added that the ongoing case has done “massive damage to France’s image as a free country.”
Although based in the United Arab Emirates, Durov remains under judicial supervision. “I still have to return to France every 14 days, with no appeal date in sight,” he revealed.
