President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that the French government was not involved in the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov.
“The arrest of Telegram’s president on French territory took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide,” Macron said.
Durov was detained Saturday night after his private jet arrived in Paris. The Paris prosecutor has not yet communicated the reasons for the arrest of Durov, who founded the messaging app in 2013.
The tech chief currently remains in policy custody. The arrest follows probes “accusing Telegram of being complicit in numerous affairs linked to drug trafficking, apology for terrorism and cyberbullying,” French daily Le Monde reported.
In a statement, Telegram said that its CEO — a Russian-born French-Emirati citizen — had “nothing to hide” and that the company abided by EU law.
Prominent voices, both in the tech industry and within official Russian circles, were quick to call out Durov’s arrest.
Russian senator Alexei Pushkov called France a “liberal dictatorship” which “does not tolerate individuals who claim freedom” in a Telegram post.
“#FreePavel,” X owner Elon Musk posted on his own platform. Edward Snowden, the Russia-based American whistleblower, accused Macron of having “descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications.”
The French president wasn’t having that.
“More than anything else, France is committed to freedom of expression and communication, innovation and entrepreneurship,” Macron said Monday. “In a state governed by the rule of law, on social networks as in real life, freedoms are exercised within a framework established by law to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.”
Macron’s comments are the first public statement from a French official following Durov’s arrest. Durov became a French citizen in 2021 by way of a rarely used procedure and under unclear circumstances.
This story is being updated.
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