French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed Monday that his country had arrested Pavel Durov, the wealthy tech mogul who founded and is the sole owner of the messaging and news app Telegram.
In a post on X, Macron called the arrest apolitical and said it was part of an ongoing judicial investigation.
“The arrest of the head of Telegram on French territory took place in the context of a judicial inquiry in process. It was not in any way a political decision,” Macron said.Telegram is one of only a few popular apps without strong ties to either the United States or China. It has long positioned itself as being extremely reluctant to moderate most content, including many scams and certain types of criminal behavior, and it is known for offering little cooperation with government requests.
Jean-Michel Bernigaud, who heads the French agency OFMIN devoted to combating crimes against children, wrote on LinkedIn that Durov was arrested Saturday and that the heart of the case against him rested on the platform’s lack of moderation and cooperation in fighting pedophilia.
Many details surrounding Durov’s arrest, including any specific charges, are still unclear. But it has prompted outrage from a large swath of influential figures, including tech titan Elon Musk, whistleblower Edward Snowden, right-wing influencers, as well as Russian media, where Telegram is extremely popular.
Critics have suggested that the arrest by French authorities was conducted in an effort to control or access communications on the platform.
“The arrest of @Durov is an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association,” Snowden wrote in a post on X. “I am surprised and deeply saddened that Macron has descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications. It lowers not only France, but the world.”
Macron’s statement seemed to address some of that outrage, in particular claims that Durov had been arrested for his support of free speech.
“I am reading here [on X] some false remarks regarding France in the wake of the arrest of Pavel Durov. France is above all a proponent of free expression and communication, innovation, and the spirit of enterprise,” he said.
Telegram didn’t respond to a request for comment but wrote in a statement on X that it abides by European Union laws. The company said that Durov has “nothing to hide” and that it is « absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
Durov became rich from founding the Russian counterpart to Facebook, VK, at 21. He has long maintained that in response to Kremlin pressure to give up information on users, he sold the company, fled Russia for the United Arab Emirates and founded Telegram as a free speech platform that goes above and beyond to avoid government censorship and meddling.
While Durov has claimed that Telegram routinely takes down images and calls for violence, it remains one of the most unmoderated apps on the internet, and is a popular place for extremists, terrorists and scammers.
Many major U.S. tech platforms, such as Meta and Google, routinely comply with court orders from around the world requesting user data of people suspected of crimes.
In a rare interview in April with right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson, Durov cast Telegram in contrast to that approach, and said that he generally ignores government requests.
