Telegram says its CEO has ‘nothing to hide’ after he’s arrested in Paris

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France over the weekend.

Telegram says its CEO, Pavel Durov, has “nothing to hide” after he was arrested in Paris.

Durov, who cofounded the messaging platform in 2013, was detained on Saturday at an airport near Paris, French authorities said Sunday, according to The Washington Post. His arrest warrant alleges that Telegram is not properly moderated and is being used for various illegal activities, including money laundering and drug trafficking, The Associated Press reported.

Telegram defended its moderation practices and its CEO Sunday in a post on X, writing, “Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving.”

The post added: “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. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information.”

The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said in a statement on Monday that in addition to the potential charges of enabling money laundering and drug trafficking, the investigation into Durov is also looking into potential charges of complicity in distributing child pornography as well as refusal to cooperate with police, The New York Times reported.

No charges have been filed yet, and Durov can be held in custody until Wednesday, the outlet reported. Cybercrime and anti-fraud specialists are leading the investigation, which began on July 8, the Times reported.

“It is within this procedural framework that Pavel Durov was questioned by the investigators,” Beccuau said, according to the Times.

Elon Musk, the executive chair of X and a self-described “free-speech absolutist,” also posted over the weekend to defend Durov. Musk, who said Durov’s arrest was a violation of free speech, wrote “Liberté Liberté! Liberté?” in one X post about Durov’s arrest and “Dangerous times” in another.

Durov was born in Russia but fled the country in 2014 after refusing to turn over data from a previous platform he founded to Russian authorities. He’s now a citizen of the United Arab Emirates and France.

On Monday morning, French President Emmanuel Macron also posted about Durov’s arrest on X.

Macron said France “is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship” but added that those “freedoms are upheld within a legal framework.”

“The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” Macron wrote. “It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter.”