Macron denies political motive behind arrest of Telegram founder

Pavel Durov holds a French passport in addition to his Russian nationality. (Getty Images/AFP pic)

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron today denied there was a political link to the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov. The tech mogul spent a second day in French custody after his surprise arrest at a Paris airport.

Many questions have been asked about the timing and circumstances of Durov’s arrest.

Sources close to the matter say Durov is accused of failing to tackle the spread of illegal content on Telegram, which has more than 900 million users.

The company has denied the allegations.

Durov was born in Soviet times into a family of academics in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. He spent his youth in Italy before founding Russia’s then largest social network, VKontakte (VK), in his early twenties.

Ten years ago, after leaving Russia, he founded Telegram. According to Forbes magazine, his current net worth is $15.5 billion.

Macron wrote on the social media platform X that he was responding to “false information” about the case and said Durov’s arrest was “part of an ongoing judicial investigation”.

“It is not a political decision in any way. It is up to the judges to decide,” he wrote in a highly unusual commentary on a court case.

Durov, 39, has a French passport in addition to his Russian nationality.

‘Nothing to hide’

An investigating judge extended Durov’s detention yesterday, a source close to the investigation said.

Pre-trial detention for questioning may last up to 96 hours.

When this period expires, the magistrate can release Durov or charge him and remand him in custody.

Durov, who has lived in Dubai in recent years, arrived in Paris from the Azerbaijani capital Baku and planned to dine in the French capital, a source close to the matter said.

He was accompanied by a bodyguard and a personal assistant who always travel with him, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.

A key question is why Durov flew to France, when he probably knew he was wanted in the country. “Maybe he had a sense of impunity,” said a source close to the case, who asked not to be named.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Baku on August 18-19 for a state visit to Azerbaijan, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the two had met.

Durov is accused of failing to take measures to tackle criminal use of his platform.

France’s Ofmin, an agency charged with preventing violence against minors, has issued an arrest warrant for Durov in a preliminary investigation into alleged crimes including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime and promoting terrorism, another source said.

Telegram responded with the following: “Durov has nothing to hide and travels regularly around Europe”.

“Telegram complies with EU law, including the Digital Services Act. Its moderation falls within industry standards,” it added.

“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform.”

‘Enforce the law’

Telegram positions itself as a “neutral” alternative to US platforms, which have been criticized for their commercial exploitation of users’ personal data.

It has also played an important role since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and is actively used by politicians and commentators on both sides of the war.

However, critics accuse the site of hosting often illegal content, ranging from extreme sexual images to disinformation and drug services.

Kremlin spokesman Peskov said Moscow had not received any information from France about why Durov was detained. He said: “We do not know specifically what Durov is accused of.”

Elon Musk, who heads the Tesla car group and X, formerly Twitter, posted the hashtag #FreePavel on his platform and responded in French: “Liberte Liberte! Liberte?” (Freedom Freedom! Freedom?).

Macron said that while France is “very committed to freedom of expression and communication”, such freedoms “are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life”.

“It is up to the judiciary, with complete independence, to enforce the law,” he said.