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Agence France-Presse

France on Wednesday charged Pavel Durov, the founder and chief of Telegram, with a litany of violations related to the messaging app and banned him from leaving the country while allowing the billionaire to walk free after four days under arrest.
Durov, 39, was charged on several counts of failing to curb extremist and illegal content on the popular messaging app following a hearing with investigating magistrates in Paris.
Russian-born Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris late Saturday and questioned in subsequent days under arrest by investigators.
He was granted conditional release against a bail of €5 million (US$5.5 million) and on the condition he must report to a police station twice a week as well as remaining in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

The charges concern alleged crimes involving an organised group including “complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable an illicit transaction”.
Durov has also been charged with refusing to share documents demanded by authorities as well as “dissemination in an organised group of images of minors in child pornography” as well as drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering.
His lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski said it was “absurd” to suggest Durov could be implicated in any crime committed on the app, adding: “Telegram complies in all respects with European rules concerning digital technology”.
Separately, Durov is also being investigated on suspicion of “serious acts of violence” towards one of his children while he and an ex-partner, the boy’s mother, were in Paris, a source said. She also filed another complaint against Durov in Switzerland last year.
The tech mogul founded Telegram as he was in the process of quitting his native Russia a decade ago. Its growth has been exponential, with the app now reporting more than 900 million users.
An enigmatic figure who rarely speaks in public, Durov is a citizen of Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates, where Telegram is based.
Forbes magazine estimates his current fortune at US$15.5 billion, though he proudly promotes the virtues of an ascetic life that includes ice baths and not drinking alcohol or coffee.
Numerous questions have been raised about the timing and circumstances of Durov’s detention, with supporters seeing him as a freedom of speech champion and detractors as a menace who wilfully allowed Telegram to get out of control.

Le Monde newspaper reported Wednesday that Durov had met President Emmanuel Macron on several occasions prior to receiving French nationality in 2021, via a special procedure reserved for those deemed to have made a special contribution to France.
The Wall Street Journal added that at one lunch in 2018, Macron – who along with his team was in the past an avid user of Telegram – had suggested it should be headquartered in Paris, but Durov refused.
According to a source close to the case, confirming a story first published on the Politico news site, both Pavel Durov and his elder brother Nikolai, a lower-profile figure seen as the mathematical brain behind Telegram, have been wanted by France since March this year.
In a post on X to address what he called “false information” concerning the case, Macron said Durov’s arrest was “in no way a political decision” and it was “up to the judges to rule”.
The UAE Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it was “closely following the case” and had asked France to provide Durov “with all the necessary consular services in an urgent manner.”
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the charges were very serious and thus needed “no less serious evidence”.
Durov left Russia a decade ago as he was setting up Telegram amid an ownership squabble concerning his first project, the Russian social network VKontakte.
But his departure from Russia was reportedly not an abrupt exile: according to the Vazhnye Istorii news site, citing leaked border data, he visited the country more than 50 times between 2015 and 2021.
Telegram has positioned itself as a “neutral” alternative to US-owned platforms, which have been criticised for their commercial exploitation of users’ personal data.
It has also played a key role since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, used actively by politicians and commentators on both sides of the war.
The Paris prosecutor said the French judicial authorities had been made aware of the “near total absence of a response” from Telegram to requests from the authorities and had first opened an investigation in February 2024.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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France

Telegram’s Pavel Durov charged, banned from leaving France

Pavel Durov in 2016. The Telegram CEO has been released on bail in France. File photo: Bloomberg

Pavel Durov’s lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski. Photo: EPA-EFE

Telegram has positioned itself as a ‘neutral’ alternative to US-owned platforms. File photo: AFP

Who is Pavel Durov, Telegram founder dubbed the ‘Russian Zuckerberg’ arrested in France?

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the messaging service Telegram, in 2017. File photo: AP

Pavel Durov in 2015. File photo: AFP

In a statement, Telegram said it abides by EU laws. Photo: EPA-EFE

Pavel Durov, in a photo from his Instagram account. File photo: @durov/Instagram

Telegram’s Pavel Durov set to learn fate after France arrest

Pavel Durov in 2016. Durov was detained in France on Saturday. File photo: Bloomberg

Telegram offers users end-to-end encryption for their communications. Photo: AFP

Telegram’s Pavel Durov in 2017. File photo: AP

Macron denies Telegram founder Durov’s arrest ‘political’ as France extends detention

Founder and CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov. File photo: Reuters

Telegram said it abided by European Union laws. Photo: AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: AFP

‘Weapon of war’ Telegram under increased scrutiny after CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest

A Russian drone attack on Ukrainian armoured vehicles in Kursk Region, Russia on August 12. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry via AFP

A Ukrainian tank passes by a burning car near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine. Photo: AP

A Russian soldier fires from D-30 howitzer in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry Press Service via AP

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov. File photo: Bloomberg

Telegram messaging app CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, in February 2016. Photo: Reuters

Demonstrators with an icon stylised painting depicting Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov protest against the blocking of the messaging app in Russia, during a May Day rally in Saint Petersburg in 2018. Photo: AFP

The Telegram app on an iPhone. Photo: File

A pedestrian walks past paper planes displayed as a reference to the logo of instant messaging service Telegram outside France’s embassy in Moscow on Sunday. Photo: AFP

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France releases Telegram boss Pavel Durov on a US$5.5 million bail after he was charged over alleged criminal use of app


France releases Telegram boss Pavel Durov on a US$5.5 million bail after he was charged over alleged criminal use of app.
