Telegram’s Durov released on €5M bail, must stay in France after arrest

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov – now under formal investigation by French authorities over charges he is responsible for allowing rampant cybercriminal activity to take place on the encrypted app – is released on €5 million bail with conditions on Wednesday.

French authorities, who arrested and jailed Durov on Saturday, granted the entrepreneur bail on the condition he pays 5 million euros, report twice a week to police, and does not leave French territory.

An official probe into Durov and organized crime on the platform was officially launched by authorities on Wednesday.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement the judge found there were grounds to formally investigate Durov on all the charges for which he was initially arrested four days ago.

They 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.

Durov's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russian state news agency RIA published a video on Telegram, since posted on X that appears to show Durov, dressed in black in a baseball cap and sunglasses, leaving the prosecutor's office and entering a waiting vehicle Wednesday evening.

EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE

JUST IN: Telegram's Pavel Durov released from custody and is out on €5,000,000 bail after being indicted.

Durov is prohibited from leaving the country and must remain in France. Durov must also report to French police twice a week. pic.twitter.com/gwO7Voq1jl

undefined Bruce Snyder (@realBruceSnyder) August 28, 2024

Being placed under formal investigation in France does not imply guilt or necessarily lead to trial, but indicates judges consider there is enough evidence to proceed with the probe. Investigations can last years before being sent to trial or shelved.

Dinner with the President?

The judge's decision came after Russian-born Durov was arrested at an airport near Paris on Saturday evening.

In a strange twist, rumors spread on X Wednesday that Durov had flown to Paris to meet up with French President Emmanuel Macron for dinner as part of a possible sting operation.

“French police who arrested Pavel Durov told the newspapers @canardenchaine that Pavel flew to Paris because he was invited to dinner by Emmanuel Macron,” X user @KimDotcom posted with the hashtag #Free Pavel.

“Did the President of France personally lure Pavel to France to arrest him? This story is getting crazier by the day,” Dotcom questioned, although it can be noted that Le Canard enchaîné is a satirical weekly newspaper.

EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE

JUST IN: Telegram's Pavel Durov released from custody and is out on €5,000,000 bail after being indicted.

Durov is prohibited from leaving the country and must remain in France. Durov must also report to French police twice a week. pic.twitter.com/gwO7Voq1jl

undefined Bruce Snyder (@realBruceSnyder) August 28, 2024

Durov's detention has fueled debate on where freedom of speech ends and enforcement of the law begins. It also underlines the uneasy relationship between governments and Telegram, which has close to 1 billion users, while serving as a warning shot to tech titans who refuse to comply with authorities over alleged illegality on their platforms.

Many watching the case unfold on social media have begun to call Durov the new Julian Assange of WikiLeaks infamy.

Beccuau said Telegram had been used in various criminal cases, and that the "almost total lack of response from Telegram to judicial requisitions" eventually caught the attention of the Paris prosecutor's office cybercrime unit.

"Other French investigation services and public prosecutors' offices as well as various partners within Eurojust, in particular Belgian ones, shared the same observation," about Telegram's lack of compliance, Beccuau said.

That prompted the Paris prosecutor's organized crime office to open a probe "into the possible criminal liability of the managers of this messaging service in the commission of these offenses," she said in her statement.

The probe began in February, with the investigations carried out by the National Office for Minors, with an introductory indictment in July, Beccuau said.

In a statement on Monday, it said it abided by European Union laws and its moderation was "within industry standards and constantly improving."

"Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe," it said. "It is absurd to claim that a platform, or its owner, are responsible for abuse of that platform," the official Telegram Messenger account responded to the arrest on Monday.

Diplomatic Waves

The arrest of Durov, who has French as well as Russian nationality, has had major diplomatic impact, hammering ties between Paris and Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that ties between the two nations had reached a nadir.

France has accused Russia of trying to destabilize it ahead of the Paris Olympics in response to its more hawkish stance on the Ukraine war - claims Russia has denied.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday that Russia was ready to provide Durov with all necessary assistance given his Russian citizenship, but that his French citizenship complicated the situation. Durov also holds a UAE passport.

Telegram has become crucial to battlefield communications in the war in Ukraine and is used by governments and soldiers on both sides of the conflict to share news and propaganda.

Telegram presents itself as a haven for free speech, but is also widely used by far-right, anti-vaccination and conspiracist movements, as well as political dissidents.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is known to be an avid user of the app, has said Durov's arrest was "in no way a political decision," adding France supports lawful free speech.

Macron had lunch with Durov in 2018 as part of a series of meetings with tech entrepreneurs, a source close to the president said, and Durov was granted French citizenship in 2021 under a rare procedure for high-profile individuals.