French prosecutors have extended the detention of Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov, as part of a wide-ranging investigation into alleged criminal activity on the messaging app. The Paris prosecutor’s office, which is leading the probe alongside police and customs officials, said on Monday night it would keep Durov in custody up until the legal limit of 96 hours since his arrest, the second time it has lengthened his detention as investigators rush to fortify their case.
The Russian-born billionaire could be held until Wednesday night, as a French magistrate determines whether to charge him in an unprecedented action against the head of a social media platform. French prosecutors on Monday said they had detained Durov, who is now a French-Emirati citizen, as part of an investigation opened in July into Telegram’s failure to moderate alleged criminal activity on the platform. These activities range from the spread of child sexual abuse material to drug trafficking, fraud, terrorism enablement, and money laundering.
The United Arab Emirates, where Durov and his company are based, said it was “closely following the case” and had submitted a request to the French to provide Durov with consular services “in an urgent manner”. Russia, from which Durov has tried to distance himself and the app amid claims by critics that the Kremlin might still have links to or leverage over Telegram, had also demanded consular access to him over the weekend.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that relations between Moscow and Paris were at an all-time low over the detention of Durov, the Tass state news agency reported. Lavrov claimed Durov had been arrested in order to gain access to the messaging app’s encryption keys. On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The charges are indeed very serious, they require no less serious evidence. Otherwise, this would be a direct attempt to restrict freedom of communication, and, I might even say, directly intimidate the head of a large company.”
However, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday: “This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide.” Durov’s arrest on Saturday night took place after his private plane landed at Paris-Le Bourget airport on a flight from Baku, Azerbaijan. The move has ignited diplomatic tensions while further escalating a global debate between free speech advocates and those concerned about safety online.
“Investigators must consider they can obtain more information for the investigation or simply put pressure on him” by extending his custody, said a Paris-based lawyer with close knowledge of the process. If Durov is charged “it will be interesting to see what measures a judge imposes, as he lives abroad”, the person continued. These could include house arrest or a ban on leaving the country.
Telegram is widely used by Russian government officials and across the country’s elite. Shortly after news broke of Durov’s arrest, Margarita Simonyan, editor of TV channel Russia Today, warned Russians to clear any sensitive messages on the app, claiming its founder would hand over encryption keys to the west. Kremlin spokesman Peskov, however, dismissed this warning as “total nonsense”, adding: “We in the presidential administration do not use any messenger for official purposes, because it would be a violation of official rules and official ethics. Therefore, no one is telling anyone to wipe anything.”
Over the weekend, technology billionaire Elon Musk, a self-declared free speech absolutist, hit out at French authorities, posting the hashtag “#freepavel” on X, which he owns. Known as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia” after co-founding its most popular social media network, VKontakte, Durov fled the country in 2014 after allegedly refusing to comply with Moscow’s demands for access to the data of Ukrainian users protesting against a pro-Russia administration.
Telegram has grown in popularity since it was founded in 2013 with nearly 1bn users. It is widely used in conflict zones and humanitarian crises, but Durov’s hands-off approach to moderation has led some researchers to warn it has become a hub for illicit activity and extremism. The warrant for Durov’s arrest was issued by Ofmin, a French police agency set up in the past year focused on preventing violence against minors.
It is unclear whether Durov and his advisers were aware of the full scope of the legal process against him in France, but the prosecutor’s case includes allegations of “refusal to hand over information or documents” to authorities. Telegram said its chief executive has “nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe”, adding that its moderation was “within industry standards and constantly improving”. The company also said it was abiding by EU laws including the Digital Services Act.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” the company said. “We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.” The EU is also conducting an accuracy review of data provided by Telegram on how many users it has in the EU, to see if it should be hit with strict rules on how it operates in the bloc.
Telegram told Brussels in February it has 41mn users in the EU, just short of the 45mn threshold that brings platforms under the EU’s strict rules under the Digital Services Act for what it deems “very large online platforms”. “If we have doubts, which is the case here, we can conduct an investigation to see what methodology they have used,” said Thomas Regnier, a spokesman for the European Commission. “We are looking into these figures and are in constant contact with [Telegram].”
