Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the encrypted messaging service Telegram, was released on Wednesday after paying a 5-million-euro (about 5.6 million U.S. dollars) bail, but he is required to report to the police twice a week, Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced Wednesday night.
Durov is officially placed under investigation on six charges and he was prohibited from leaving France during the investigation, Beccuau added.
Durov was arrested by French police at an airport outside Paris on Saturday night. Beccuau said on Monday that the Telegram founder is accused of 12 criminal offenses, including failing to act against Telegram users involved in cyberbullying, sharing pedophilic content and glorifying terrorism.
Beccuau said the arrest “comes in the context of a judicial investigation opened on July 8, 2024.” It also concerns “refusal to communicate, at the request of competent authorities, information or documents necessary for carrying out and operating interceptions allowed by law,” the Paris prosecutor added.
In response to the arrest, the Telegram group said on its X account that the company “abides by European Union (EU) laws, including the Digital Services Act.”
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse of that platform,” it added.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the arrest of Durov is “in no way a political decision.”
Durov’s arrest in France “took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” Macron said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
After the arrest, Russia’s embassy in Paris has referred a note to the French foreign ministry demanding consular access to Durov, the TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk, owner of the U.S. social media platform X, and Edward Snowden, former U.S. National Security Agency contractor, condemned on Sunday Durov’s arrest.
