French court rules that Telegram CEO Pavel Durov allowed “child pornography and drug trafficking” via the messaging app

France on Thursday, August 29, accused Telegram CEO Pavel Durov of a series of violations related to the messaging app, including allowing child pornography and drug trafficking, and banned him from leaving the country. The country also released Pavel Durov after four days of questioning.

The investigation is ongoing on suspicion of complicity in various crimes, including operating an online platform that enabled “the dissemination of images of minors in child pornography in an organized group,” drug trafficking and fraud, said French prosecutor Laure Beccuau.

Telegram is also accused of refusing to cooperate with authorities in exchanging information, engaging in money laundering and providing cryptographic services to criminals, the statement said.

Pavel Durov was arrested on Saturday, August 24, at Le Bourget airport outside Paris as part of the “organized crime” investigation. Durov was released on bail of 5 million euros ( ₹46,71,01,043) and on the condition that he stay in France and report to the police twice a week. Provisional charges have also been brought in connection with the investigation.

The first provisional charge against him was “complicity in the management of an online platform to facilitate illegal transactions by an organized group.”

According to the AP news agency, a provisional indictment under French law means that judges have strong grounds to believe a crime has been committed, but before passing sentence on the defendants, they give them more time to conduct further investigations.

In a statement, Telegram called the allegations “absurd” and at the same time assured that Pavel Durov had “nothing to hide”.

“Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently throughout Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform,” the messaging app said in a post on X.

Pavel Durov is also being investigated on suspicion of “serious acts of violence” against one of his children while he and a former partner, the boy's mother, were in Paris, said a source who filed another complaint against Durov in Switzerland last year.