Russian tech mogul was charged with a number of offenses associated to “unlawful content material” on his platform
Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been granted permission to briefly depart France amid an ongoing investigation into alleged felony exercise on his messaging platform, AFP reported on Saturday, citing nameless sources.
The Russian entrepreneur, who additionally holds citizenship in France, the UAE, and St. Kitts and Nevis, was arrested at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in August 2024. French authorities charged him with facilitating the distribution of kid sexual exploitation materials and drug trafficking as a consequence of alleged moderation failures on Telegram. He was later launched on €5 million ($5.46 million) bail however was barred from leaving France and required to test in with police twice per week.
In keeping with AFP, “the investigating choose accepted Durov’s request to switch the circumstances of his supervision a number of days in the past,” permitting him to journey overseas for a number of weeks.
“He departed France this morning,” a supply advised the company on Saturday, whereas one other confirmed he left for Dubai, the place he had lived for seven years earlier than his arrest.
A Telegram spokeswoman declined to remark when contacted by AFP, stating that the corporate would problem a press release later.
Durov has denied any wrongdoing, arguing that he shouldn’t be held accountable for user-generated content material on Telegram. At a January courtroom listening to, he advised judges that the platform removes “between 15 and 20 million consumer accounts for breaking the legislation” every month and deletes youngster exploitation materials “the identical day.”
Telegram has additionally elevated cooperation with legislation enforcement, sharing consumer information from about 10,000 accounts prior to now six months, in keeping with Durov. In September 2024, the corporate revised its privateness coverage, permitting it to retailer metadata—together with IP addresses, system particulars, and username modifications—for as much as a yr. The coverage states that this information could also be supplied to “related judicial authorities” if a consumer is suspected of criminal activity.
Durov’s authorized crew has dismissed the fees as baseless, arguing that it’s unfair to carry him accountable for crimes dedicated by way of the platform.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has additionally criticized the case, calling it “absurd” and evaluating it to arresting the CEOs of Renault or Citroën as a result of terrorists have used their automobiles.
