French leadership is hitting back at claims that its arrest of messaging app Telegram’s top officer over the weekend is politically motivated.
Macron also denounced accusations of political motivation as false, saying that the arrest “is in no way a political decision.”
“It is up to the judges to rule on the matter,” he said.
The Paris prosecutor’s office also issued its first statement on the arrest on Aug. 26, revealing that Durov was brought into custody because of a judicial inquiry opened in July involving a dozen different alleged crimes.
The prosecutor’s office said Durov’s alleged crimes include complicity in the sale of child pornography and illicit drugs, fraud, abetting organized crime transactions, and refusing to share information or documents with investigators when required by law to do so.
Durov’s detention was extended late on Aug. 25 to the night of Aug. 26 and can be prolonged until the evening of Aug. 28 before authorities must either release or charge him.
“Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” the company stated.
Some Western governments have criticized Telegram for a lack of content moderation, which they allege opens up the messaging platform for potential use in money laundering, drug trafficking, and the sharing of material linked to the sexual exploitation of minors.
In 2022, Germany issued fines of $5 million against Telegram’s operators for failing to establish a lawful way to report illegal content or to name an entity in Germany to receive official communication. Both are required under German laws that regulate large online platforms. Likewise, Brazil temporarily suspended Telegram last year over its failure to surrender data on alleged neo-Nazi activity related to a police inquiry into school shootings.
Russian authorities also tried to block Telegram but failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020.
Durov is a French citizen and also holds citizenship in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
He co-founded Telegram with his brother after his previous company, which also provided a messaging service, was condemned by Russian authorities.
That app, VKontakte, was introduced in 2006, but Durov sold his stake in the company after the Russian government demanded it reveal the personal information of users who took part in a popular uprising in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014 that resulted in the ouster of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Russia used the events as a justification for its subsequent annexation of Crimea and its support of Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Durov previously said he refused the Russian government’s demands and left Russia.
Telegram has since grown into a popular source of information in Ukraine and Russia, where media outlets and governments alike use it to share messaging on the ongoing war and deliver live alerts.
