Macron denies arrest of Telegram founder in France is ‘political’

PARIS:President Emmanuel Macron on Monday denied any political links 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 said Durov is accused of failing to curb 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 to a family of academics in Leningrad, now known as St. Petersburg. He spent his youth in Italy before founding Russia’s largest social network, VKontakte (VK), in his early 20s. He founded Telegram after leaving Russia a decade ago, and Forbes magazine estimates his current fortune at $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 in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide,” he wrote in a highly unusual commentary on a legal case.

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

‘Nothing to hide’

An investigating judge extended Durov’s detention on Sunday, a source close to the investigation said. The initial detention for questioning could 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 regularly travels around Europe.”

“Telegram complies with EU law, including the Digital Services Act, and moderation is conducted within industry standards,” the company said.

“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 exactly 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 “strongly committed to freedom of expression and communication”, these freedoms are “upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life”.

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