French officials question Telegram CEO about child sexual abuse images and drugs

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov continues to be detained in France in connection with a criminal investigation into the messaging app’s failure to cooperate with law enforcement requests, authorities in Paris announced on Monday.

Durov, who resides mostly in Dubai, was arrested Saturday at Le Bourget Airport north of Paris after he disembarked his private jet, which was traveling from Azerbaijan.

While French media broke the story of Durov’s arrest over the weekend, prosecutors in Paris on Monday confirmed the reports and added some detail.

Prosecutors say they launched an investigation last month into a “person unnamed” for violations including the spread of child pornography, peddling illegal drugs and failure to cooperate with authorities in a probe into organized fraud.

Whether Durov is being questioned as the main target of the investigation, or as having played an accomplice role, is not known.

“At the heart of the case is the lack of moderation and cooperation of the platform,” said Jean-Michel Bernigaud, a top police official in France wrote on LinkedIn. “Particularly in the fight against child pornography.”

It is unclear if Durov is being held on suspicion of any of these crimes, but under French law authorities say they can keep the tech billionaire detained for questioning until Wednesday, or for 96 hours.

In a statement, Telegram has responded to the detainment saying it is “absurd” to hold Durov responsible for people who abuse the platform, noting that the app abides by all European Union laws.

Durov, 39, founded Telegram in 2013 as a secure way to communicate outside the reaches of authoritarian regimes. The app has soared in popularity, amassing more than 900 million users, becoming one of the most-used messaging services in the world.

One of the hallmarks of Telegram is its hands-off approach to content moderation.

That has drawn criticism from researchers who have long condemned Telegram for not taking action against groups, known as “channels” on the app, that have served as recruiting hubs for terrorist organizations, including ISIS and Hamas.

Former Facebook executive Brian Fishman who studies counter-terrorism wrote on Threads that Telegram has ignored law enforcement requests examining terror groups and child pornography for years.

“Telegram is another level,” Fishman wrote. “It’s a different approach entirely.”

To French law enforcement and internet researchers, the questioning of Durov is about Telegram’s alleged refusal to comply with government requests. Yet to free speech champions online, detaining a tech executive over content that appears on a platform is a form of censoring free speech.

Elon Musk mused on X that the future could include “being executed for liking a meme,” and self-proclaimed whistleblower Edward Snowden described Durov’s arrest an assault on “the basic human rights of speech and association.” Writing on X, Snowden said the Durov being detained was akin to “taking hostages as a memes for gaining access to private communications.”

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron defended the country’s arrest and questioning of Durov.

“The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter,” Macron wrote on X.