(CN) — Pavel Durov, the Russian-born co-founder of Telegram, was formally charged late Wednesday by French authorities on suspicion of allowing illegal activity to take place on his popular social media platform and messaging app.
Durov, Telegram’s flamboyant billionaire chief executive, was removed from detention and transferred to a Paris court on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the indictment. He will remain free on a 5 million euro bond, nearly $5.6 million, but cannot leave France.
French media reported that authorities also opened an investigation over allegations that Durov was violent with one of his sons in Paris who was attending school there in 2017.
An arrest warrant, reportedly issued in late March, accused Durov of not cooperating with authorities and allowing fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, child pornography and the promotion of terrorism to take place on the platform. There is no indication that Durov was personally involved in criminal activity on Telegram.
His arrest and indictment were met with both condemnation and applause around the world. Critics denounced the case as a politically motivated attack on free speech while others accused Telegram of becoming a dangerous online tool used to spread disinformation and conduct illegal activities.
The 39-year-old tech entrepreneur, who lives and runs his business in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, was arrested Saturday night when his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport outside Paris.
The Durov case has turned into an international intrigue as speculation grows about possible political and even military motives behind the arrest. For example, the Russian military uses Telegram as an encrypted communication system in the war in Ukraine.
That intrigue deepened still further Wednesday after the French investigative news outlet Le Canard Enchaîné reported that Durov told police when he arrived in France that he had been invited to dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron. The Elysée rejected the claim.
On Monday, Macron called suggestions that Durov’s arrest was politically motivated “false information.” Still, the relationship between Macron and Durov remains unclear with Le Monde, a French national newspaper, reporting that Macron met Durov several times before he was granted French citizenship in 2021.
Durov is a controversial figure often compared to American tech billionaire Elon Musk, the maverick owner of X, the platform previously known as Twitter. Both tech executives present themselves as ardent supporters of unfettered information on their platforms, but critics accuse them of fomenting hate speech and disinformation.
In Durov’s case, Telegram has long been known not only as a platform for unfiltered content but as a place where illegal activities take place. For example, Telegram was forced to ban Islamic State accounts because they were used as recruiting tools. News reports say Telegram has refused to work with agencies to remove online child abuse material and crack down on drug dealing through the site.
Durov left Russia in 2013 after he ran into problems with the Kremlin, which was seeking to shut down critical voices on a popular Facebook-like social media platform he and his brother started called Vkontakte. That platform was sold to Kremlin-friendly businessmen.
After that, his brother Nikolai Durov and he founded Telegram, which grew to become a popular alternative social media platform and encrypted messaging app in many parts of the world, especially in conflict zones and authoritarian states. Worldwide, it has nearly 1 billion users.
Telegram’s importance in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus is huge because it is a favorite digital space inhabited by bloggers, alternative news operations, propagandists, public officials, military commander and soldiers. For many people in Russia and Belarus, it is one of the only sources for independent news.
On Wednesday, Politico reported that French authorities are also seeking to arrest Nikolai Durov, whose whereabouts were unknown.
Politico, citing a French administrative document, said Durov’s arrest was related to Telegram’s refusal to cooperate with a French police inquiry into child sex abuse. Telegram was accused of not answering to a request to identify a Telegram user, the news outlet reported.
Telegram has a policy to not disclose personal information to authorities. The company has denied breaking any laws and said Durov has “nothing to hide.”
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.