Telegram boss and founder Pavel Durov has been formally investigated in France as part of an investigation into organized crime on the messaging app, Paris prosecutors said.
Durov, 39, has not yet been remanded in custody but is under judicial supervision and must pay a €5 million (£4.2 million; $5.6 million) deposit.
The Russian-born billionaire, who is also a French citizen, must also appear at a French police station twice a week and is not allowed to leave French territory.
Mr. Durov is Detained for the first time after arriving at Le Bourget Airport Arrests were made in northern Paris on Saturday based on crimes related to the app.
In a statement on Wednesday, Paris prosecutors said Mr Durov was under formal investigation for alleged crimes, including:
- Organized gangs collude to manage online platforms for illegal transactions
- Refusal to communicate with authorities
- Criminal conspiracy to disseminate sexual images of children in an organized manner
In France, being under formal investigation does not imply guilt or necessarily lead to a trial, but it indicates that the judge believes there is enough of a case to pursue an investigation.
Mr Durov has so far made no public comment on the latest developments.
His lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski said Telegram complies with European digital regulations in all aspects and is reviewed to the same standards as other social networks.
He added that it was “ridiculous” to suggest that his client might have been involved in “criminal conduct not directly or indirectly related to him”.
The unprecedented arrest of a social media platform owner over the way the platform is used has sparked a heated debate online about free speech and accountability.
We’ve seen tech bosses brought before lawmakers for confrontational questioning about their practices and missteps before, but not airport law enforcement.
X owner Elon Musk defended Durov, arguing that moderation was “propaganda” for censorship. He called for Mr Durov’s release.
Chris Pavlovski, founder of controversial video-sharing app Rumble, said he had fled Europe following Durov’s arrest.
While most of the world’s largest social networks do engage with national and international agencies when it comes to serious criminal offenses such as sharing child sexual abuse images, Telegram has been accused of ignoring those agencies.
The company, now based in Dubai, insists its audit tools meet industry standards.
French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this week that France was firmly committed to freedom of expression and that the decision to detain Durov was “in no way…political”.
Huge groups of up to 200,000 people can share and comment on news and content on Telegram – WhatsApp, on the other hand, limits its maximum group size to more than 1,000 people.
While Telegram messages can be encrypted, meaning only the sender and recipient can view them, this feature is not enabled by default and one must manually switch to a private chat.
On Monday night, Paris prosecutors said Mr. Durov was being detained in connection with a cybercrime investigation. Telegram responded by saying that Durov had “nothing to hide.”
Russia said the accusations could be viewed as an act of “intimidation” against a major tech company for political purposes without a “serious evidentiary basis.”
“Whereas [Mr Durov’s] “He is a Russian citizen and we are ready to provide all necessary help and assistance. But the situation is complicated by the fact that he is also a French citizen,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky said on Thursday that the accusations against Durov sounded “crazy” and that the Telegram CEO was “a hostage to the collective Western democratic authoritarian regime.”
Telegram is rated as one of the major social media platforms.
Founded in 2013, it is particularly popular in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries, as well as Iran.
Russian war correspondent Sasha Kots wonders whether users will “trust Telegram as much as before.”
Coates, who regularly posts updates about the war in Ukraine to his large Telegram following, said French and Western authorities may now have access to the network’s encryption keys.
“The fact is that no matter how events around Durov develop now, one cannot be sure of the courier’s safety,” he wrote on Telegram.
The BBC revealed on Wednesday that Telegram, which has more than 950 million registered users, Refusing to participate in international projects many times Designed to detect and remove child abuse material online.
The BBC has contacted Telegram for comment on its refusal to join the child protection programme.
Durov also founded VKontakte, a popular social media company in Russia, and left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition groups on the platform.
He also holds passports from St. Kitts and Nevis and the United Arab Emirates.
