On Sunday, Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, broke his silence once again on his ongoing legal battle in France, declaring that the criminal investigation against him has failed to produce evidence of misconduct.
Durov, who was detained by French police for four days in August 2024, has since been under investigation over allegations linked to Telegram’s handling of harmful content.
He argued that his arrest was not only unnecessary but also legally and logically absurd, stressing that no chief executive should be held personally responsible for crimes committed by independent platform users.
Durov says France mishandled Telegram legal case
The Russian-born entrepreneur explained that the French authorities mishandled their own legal process before his detention.
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“Ironically, I was arrested due to the French police’s own mistake: before August 2024, they ignored French and EU laws and hadn’t sent any of their queries to Telegram via the required legal process.”
Durov wrote in his post. He noted that such information could have been obtained by googling it or asking, suggesting that the arrest stemmed more from procedural errors than from Telegram’s policies.
Since then, he has been required to remain engaged with French legal authorities, returning every 14 days despite no clear evidence being presented against him.
“A year later, the ‘criminal investigation’ against me is still struggling to find anything that I or Telegram did wrong,” he added, insisting that Telegram’s moderation practices are aligned with global industry standards and that the company has always responded to binding legal requests from France.
For him, the most damaging part of the ordeal goes beyond the investigation itself. He believes the case has cast a shadow over France’s reputation.
“Sadly, the only outcome of my arrest so far has been massive damage to France’s image as a free country,” he stated, warning that the prolonged case risks undermining the nation’s credibility as a democracy that protects civil liberties.
Durov holds his ground
Despite the uncertainty, the Telegram founder vowed to continue resisting pressure to compromise user privacy or introduce backdoors into the platform.
His message was one of resilience: “We’ll keep fighting — and we will win.”
With no appeal date in sight, Durov’s legal battle remains unresolved.