Durov speaks again, calls his France arrest unfair and absurd

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who was detained in France exactly a year ago, complains that he has to return to the country every 14 days, with no appeal date in sight. But was his brief arrest really unfair and “absurd?”

That’s the word – absurd – that Durov chose to call his arrest by French police, which shook the social media industry last summer.

The Telegram boss was detained over alleged criminal activity on his messaging platform and said in a thread on X that he was still curious about what it actually means.

“One year ago, the French police detained me for four days because some people I’d never heard of used Telegram to coordinate crimes. Arresting a CEO of a major platform over the actions of its users was not only unprecedented – it was legally and logically absurd,” said Durov.

“A year later, the ‘criminal investigation’ against me is still struggling to find anything that I or Telegram did wrong. Our moderation practices align with industry standards, and Telegram has always responded to every legally binding request from France.”

One year ago, the French police detained me for 4 days because some people I’d never heard of used Telegram to coordinate crimes. Arresting a CEO of a major platform over the actions of its users was not only unprecedented — it was legally and logically absurd.

undefined Pavel Durov (@durov) August 24, 2025

According to Durov, he still has to return to France every 14 days “with no appeal date in sight.” He also thinks the French police made a mistake a year ago because they “ignored” French and EU laws and didn’t follow the required legal process.

“So far, the only outcome of my arrest has been massive damage to France’s image as a free country. One thing is certain: we’ll keep fighting – and we will win,” said Durov.

It’s almost as if he were sending a defiant message from prison, isn’t it? He’s not serving time, though: Durov was released on €5 million (US$5.8 million) bail four days after his arrest last August and has even been permitted to travel to Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered.

However, Durov remains under judicial supervision because, unsurprisingly, that’s the French law. Plus, the case is complicated, and untangling it undoubtedly takes time.

Last year, the judge found there were grounds to formally investigate Durov on all the charges for which he was initially arrested.

The charges include suspected complicity in running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, images of child sex abuse, drug trafficking, and fraud, as well as the refusal to communicate information to authorities, money laundering, and providing cryptographic services to criminals.

Telegram has built its reputation as being a hands-off moderator of content posted on its platform. But this has led to some calling it a haven for racists and criminals.

Durov himself said in an interview with Tucker Carlson, feted among those with far-right sensibilities, that Telegram’s users like its “independence, privacy, and freedom.”

Even with his new statement on X, Durov seems to be attempting to attract attention from the so-called defenders of free speech within the tech mogul community.

Big tech and social media firms are now very friendly with the Donald Trump administration, which is, in turn, raging against foreign laws such as the EU’s Digital Services Act.

In May, France barred Durov from traveling to the US without explicit permission from the authorities.

Telegram is not an American company, of course, but Durov would at least like to be able to travel to America again. In May, France barred him from traveling there without explicit permission from the authorities.

In Europe, Durov’s critics keep pointing out that Telegram is still full of all kinds of swindlers and crooks, mostly selling or trading illegal stuff, and that the platform allows criminal activity to go on undeterred.

“In our age of all-powerful, international and well-connected tech magnates who promote their own brand of free speech – which includes in some cases allowing, or at least turning a blind eye to, the illicit activities taking place on their platforms – it was only a matter of time before one of them faced a day of reckoning at the hands of one justice system or another,” Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, an independent civil-society organization in Geneva, said.