Pavel Durov. Photo: Pavel Durov, VK
The French judicial authorities have extended the detention of Russian-born founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov after his arrest at a Paris airport, Agence France Presse reported on Sunday.
Durov, who was arrested on Saturday evening upon arrival at Le Bourget Airport in Paris after flying to the French capital from Azerbaijan, can be held for up to 96 hours according to French law, at which point he must either be charged or released.
Although no reason has been given for his detention, AFP believes he is being charged as an accomplice to crimes including drug trafficking, fraud, terrorism and crimes against children over Telegram’s alleged “lack of moderation and cooperation with law enforcement”.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office is expected to make a statement on the Durov case on Monday.
Telegram issued a statement on Sunday in which it abided “by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act” and that its moderation was “within industry standards and constantly improving”.
“Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,” it said, adding that it was “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform”.
Both pro-Kremlin and opposition voices in Russia as well as various free speech absolutists outside the country voiced their support for Durov on Sunday as news of his arrest spread.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova recalled the hypocrisy of non-governmental organisations to Russia attempting to block Telegram in 2018 upon news of Durov’s arrest, while X owner Elon Musk posted a clip from Durov’s recent interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, in which Durov praises Musk for buying Twitter and developing the social network, captioning the video#FreePavel.
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev wrote that he had warned Durov a long time ago that his refusal to cooperate with law enforcement agencies on serious crime would lead to “serious problems in any country”.
Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova wrote: “Freedom to Pavel Durov. Putting people in jail for bad moderation, eh? Pavel supported me … it’s time for me to support him.”
Editor-in-chief of Russian propaganda broadcaster RT Margarita Simonyan said “Pavel Durov left Russia in order not to cooperate with the security services. It didn’t help,” while Yekaterina Mizulina, head of the Kremlin-affiliated pro-censorship Safe Internet League, said she was sure that the Americans were behind Durov’s arrest.
