Telegram's founder has accused Paris of bringing "absurd" charges against him

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has said that France ruined its reputation as a free country by briefly detaining him last year.

Durov was arrested at a Paris airport in August 2024 on charges of allowing criminals to use his messenger for illegal activities, including extremism and child abuse. The Russian-born tech entrepreneur was later released on 5 million ($5.86 million) bail and allowed to return to Dubai, where he resides.

In a post on Telegram on Sunday, Durov described his detention as "unprecedented" and "legally and logically absurd." He said the investigation had produced no evidence of wrongdoing, stressing that Telegram's moderation practices follow industry standards and that the company has complied with all legally binding requests from French authorities.

Durov also claimed that French investigators bypassed EU-mandated legal channels when sending queries to the platform, a mistake he argued could have been avoided "simply by googling the process or asking."

"Sadly, the only outcome of my arrest so far has been massive damage to France's image as a free country," Durov said, adding that he must still return to Paris every two weeks with no appeal date in sight.

Telegram has since updated its privacy policy to allow the collection of metadata, including IP addresses, device information, and username changes, for up to one year, with the option of handing it over to "relevant judicial authorities."

Last month, Durov accused France of waging "a crusade" against free speech, claiming that intelligence officials had tried to pressure him into censoring conservative content during Romania's 2024 presidential election. The French intelligence agency, the DGSE, later said it had merely "reminded" him of the responsibility to police content while denying election interference.