French Authorities Bar Telegram Founder Durov from Leaving Country During Criminal Investigation

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, is currently under formal investigation by French authorities due to alleged illicit activities on the messaging platform. As part of the investigation, Durov has been barred from leaving France. He was detained by French authorities at an airport outside Paris, following an arrest warrant issued against him. The detention occurred at Bourget Airport, where Durov arrived on a flight from Azerbaijan. Officers from France’s anti-fraud office, linked to French customs, took the French-Russian billionaire into custody, according to reports by CNN affiliate BFMTV.

The investigation stems from allegations that Telegram has been used for money laundering, drug trafficking, and the dissemination of pedophilic content, all due to insufficient moderation on the platform. French prosecutors have highlighted that Telegram has been implicated in multiple criminal cases within France, involving child sexual abuse, drug trafficking, and online hate crimes. Despite these serious concerns, Telegram has shown a "near-total absence" of cooperation with law enforcement, according to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.

Following his detention, Durov was released from police custody and transferred to court for further questioning. He was ordered to pay bail amounting to 5.5 million dollars, with additional conditions requiring him to check in at a police station twice a week. Prosecutors in France, along with legal authorities in Belgium and other European countries, have observed similar issues with Telegram, leading to the opening of a probe in February into the "potential criminal liability of executives at this messaging platform," as reported by The New York Times.

If convicted, Durov could face a prison sentence of up to 10 years. The charges against him include complicity in illegal gang transactions, laundering of crimes within an organized gang, and refusal to provide necessary information to authorities. These charges stem from the broader accusations related to the criminal use of Telegram and Durov’s failure to cooperate with law enforcement, as outlined by the French prosecutor.

The Russian-born Durov, who also founded the VKontakte social network, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to share VKontakte users’ data with Russian security services. Despite efforts by Russia to block Telegram for its refusal to provide users' online communications to security services, the platform has continued to operate. Durov, who now claims over 900 million users on Telegram, became a naturalized French citizen in August 2021 and is currently based in Dubai.