French judge extends police custody for Pavel Durov after Telegram CEO's arrest at Paris airport

PARIS– A French investigating judge has extended the police detention of the CEO of the popular messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, the public prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.

Durov was arrested on Saturday at Le Bourget airport as part of a judicial investigation launched last month on 12 suspected offences, including aiding and abetting the sale of child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, fraud, aiding and abetting organised crime transactions and refusing to provide information or documents to investigators despite being required to do so by law.

A statement from the Paris prosecutor's office said Durov's arrest warrant was extended for up to 48 hours on Monday evening, after which authorities must either release him or press charges, the prosecutor's office said in an earlier statement.

Durov is a citizen of Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean island state of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Russian officials have expressed outrage over his detention, with some calling it politically motivated and evidence of the West's double standards when it comes to freedom of speech. The outcry has caused consternation among Kremlin critics, as Russian authorities themselves tried to block Telegram in 2018 but failed and lifted the ban in 2020.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Durov's arrest was not a political move but part of an independent investigation. Macron posted on X that his country was “deeply committed” to freedom of expression, but “freedoms are maintained within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.”

The United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it was “closely following the case” and had called on France to “urgently provide Durov with all necessary consular services.”

The Russian embassy in Paris said consular officials were denied access to Durov because French authorities considered his French citizenship to be his primary citizenship.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also commented on Durov’s arrest.

“You saw that France arrested this poor young guy. Yes, they are that strict,” Khamenei said at a meeting with members of the cabinet of the new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“This is because he violated their governance (through the internet),” Khamenei said. “Violating governance is not acceptable. Whoever governs a country has a responsibility… you cannot allow someone to violate your governance.”

Telegram is banned in Iran after years of protests against the country's Shiite theocracy, but the app remains widely used by Iranians.

In Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said they were seeking further information from the French authorities on Durov's case.

“At this stage of the investigation, we simply do not have enough information and it would really be too early for us to comment.”

Telegram, which claims to have nearly a billion users worldwide, was founded by Durov and his brother after he himself faced pressure from Russian authorities.

In 2013, he sold his stake in VKontakte, a popular Russian social network he founded in 2006.

The company came under pressure during the Russian government's crackdown on mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow in late 2011 and 2012.

Durov said authorities had demanded that the website remove online communities of Russian opposition activists and later hand over the personal information of users who took part in the popular uprising in Ukraine in 2013 that ultimately led to the overthrow of a pro-Kremlin president.

Durov said in a recent interview that he rejected these demands and left the country.

The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to restrict digital space. Telegram and its privacy-friendly rhetoric offered Russians a convenient way to communicate and exchange messages.

Telegram also remains a popular news source in Ukraine, where it is used by media and authorities to exchange information about the war and to transmit warnings about rocket and air strikes.

A statement posted on the platform after his arrest said the company complies with EU laws and its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving.”

“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform,” Telegram's post said. “Nearly a billion users around the world use Telegram as a means of communication and as a source of important information. We await a swift resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.”

Western governments often criticize Telegram for its lack of content moderation. Experts say this could potentially open the messaging platform to abuse for money laundering, drug trafficking and the distribution of material related to the sexual exploitation of minors.

In 2022, Germany imposed $5 million in fines on Telegram's operators for failing to create a legal way to report illegal content or designate an entity in Germany that could receive official notices, both of which are required under German laws regulating large online platforms.