French prosecutors have given preliminary information in a press release on Monday about the investigation into Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who arrested suddenly on saturday at Paris’ Le Bourget airport. Durov has not yet been charged with any crime, but officials said he was being held as part of an investigation “against an unnamed person” and could be held at the police station until Wednesday.
The investigation began on July 8 and involves various charges related to alleged money laundering, violations related to the import and export of encryption tools, refusal to cooperate with law enforcement, and “complicity” in drug trafficking, possession and distribution of child pornography, among others.
The investigation was initiated by cybercrime prosecutors “Section J3” and is in cooperation with the French Cybercrime Center (C3N) and the National Office Against Fraud (ONAF), according to a press release. “Pavel Durov was questioned by investigators within the framework of this procedure,” Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau wrote in a statement.
Telegram did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the investigation but confirmed in a statement posted on the company’s news channel on Sunday that Durov “has nothing to hide.”
“Given that there have been several preliminary investigations in France involving Telegram related to the protection of minors’ rights and cooperation with other French investigative units – for example, on cyber-harassment – the arrest of Durov does not seem to me to be an extraordinary move,” said Cannelle Lavite, a French lawyer specializing in freedom of expression issues.
Lavite noted that Durov, a French citizen, was arrested on French territory on an arrest warrant issued by a French judge. She added that the list of charges related to the investigation was “extensive,” a wide net that she said was not entirely surprising given France’s “vague legislative arsenal” of balancing content moderation and freedom of expression.
Durov is a controversial figure for his leadership of Telegram, largely because he has not often cooperated with calls to moderate content on the platform. In some ways, this has positioned him as a defender of free speech against government censorship, but it has also made Telegram a haven for hate speech, criminal activity and abuse. Additionally, the platform is often considered a secure communication tool, but for the most part it is open and accessible by default.
“Telegram is not an encrypted messenger; most people use it almost as a social network and they don’t use any of its features that have end-to-end encryption,” said John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at Citizen Lab. “This implies that Telegram has a lot of ability and access to be able to moderate content and respond to legal requests. This puts Pavel Durov at the center of all kinds of potential government pressure.”
Above all, many researchers have questioned whether Telegram’s end-to-end encryption is durable when users choose to enable it.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks on social media parcel on Monday that “France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and the media… The arrest of the Telegram president on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. This is not a political decision in any way.”
However, news of Durov’s arrest has raised concerns that the move could threaten Telegram’s stability and undermine the platform. The case also appears to have implications for long-standing global debates about social media censorship, government influence, and the use of end-to-end encryption to protect privacy.
Lavite said the case would inevitably spark debate about “the balance between the right to encrypted communications and freedom of expression on the one hand, and the right to user protection — content moderation — on the other.” But she noted that much about the investigation remains unknown and “there are still many gray areas.”
On Monday afternoon, Telegram appeared to have received a download booster from this situation, moving from 18th place to 8th place in the Apple App Store app rankings in the United States. Global iOS downloads increased by 4 percent, and in France, the app ranked first in the App Store social networking category and third overall.
