Pavel Durov, the Chief Executive Officer of Telegram, who was detained in France last year and faced several charges relating to the messaging app, has now left the country and returned to Dubai where he is based.
In August 2024, Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport near Paris and was hit with preliminary charges around crimes conducted on the encrypted messaging app used by around 950 million people worldwide, including drug trafficking and money laundering, among others.
Although Durov has left France, French authorities will continue their investigation into alleged criminal activity linked to his messaging platform.
Durov reportedly holds Emirati citizenship made the announcement on his Telegram channel on Monday. “As you may have heard, I’ve returned to Dubai after spending several months in France due to an investigation related to the activity of criminals on Telegram. The process is ongoing, but it feels great to be home,” said Durov.
French authorities imposed strict bail conditions, requiring him to report to a police station twice a week and pay €5 million in bail. He has now been granted permission to temporarily leave the country.
Last month, Telegram was fined nearly $1m by Australia’s online safety regulator for failing to respond on time to questions about what the company does to tackle terrorism and child abuse material on its platform.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner said that Telegram delayed the May 6, 2024, deadline set by the Commissioner by over five months, “obstructing the Commissioner’s efforts to monitor compliance.”
“If we want accountability from the tech industry we need much greater transparency. These powers give us a look under the hood at just how these platforms are dealing, or not dealing, with a range of serious and egregious online harms which affect Australians,” said eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.
“Telegram took 160 days to provide information that was asked in the reporting notice and providing this information so late has obstructed eSafety from delivering its functions under the Online Safety Act for almost half a year.”
