By TechCrunch | Created at 2025-03-17 17:33:36 | Updated at 2025-03-18 03:09:54
9 hours ago
Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, no longer has to stay in France. A source told AFP that the investigating judge in charge of Durov’s case has accepted a request to modify the conditions of his supervision.
“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,” Durov wrote on Monday in a message posted to his Telegram channel. “The process is ongoing, but it feels great to be home.”
Durov was arrested on August 24, 2024, after he stepped off a private jet at France’s Le Bourget Airport. He spent four days in police custody — leading to widespread coverage of his arrest.
Shortly afterwards, the Paris criminal court, which is in charge of the investigation, explained the reasons for his arrest. Most of the charges revolve around the Telegram founder allegedly being complicit in facilitating organized fraud, illegal transitions, and the sharing of CSAM (child sexual abuse material) on the messaging and social platform.
At the time, Durov agreed to pay a €5 million bail ($5.5 million at current exchange rates) and to check in at a police station twice a week. He was also barred from leaving France during the investigation. But those conditions appear to have been modified now — enabling him to leave the country legally.
The Paris court did not release a statement regarding the reasons for changes to Durov’s supervision conditions.
A few days after his arrest, Telegram updated its website and app to explicitly allow users to report private chats to its moderators. Before the arrest, the company had said that it “[did] not process any requests related to [moderating chats and group chats].”
Following this radical change of course, Telegram removed millions of groups and channels.
In further remarks on Durov’s channel announcing his arrival in Dubai, the Telegram CEO wrote: “I want to thank the investigative judges for letting this happen, as well as my lawyers and team for their relentless efforts in demonstrating that, when it comes to moderation, cooperation, and fighting crime, for years Telegram not only met but exceeded its legal obligations.”
Durov isn’t out of the woods just yet. Despite his cooperation, the investigation remains ongoing and it could still lead to a criminal trial in France. On the plus side, at least Durov won’t have to file his 2025 taxes in France.
Romain Dillet is a Senior Reporter at TechCrunch. He has written over 3,000 articles on technology and tech startups and has established himself as an influential voice on the European tech scene. He has a deep background in startups, privacy, security, fintech, blockchain, mobile, social and media. With twelve years of experience at TechCrunch, he’s one of the familiar faces of the tech publication that obsessively covers Silicon Valley and the tech industry. In fact, his career started at TechCrunch when he was 21. Based in Paris, many people in the tech ecosystem consider him as the most knowledgeable tech journalist in town. Romain likes to spot important startups before anyone else. He was the first person to cover N26, Revolut and DigitalOcean. He has written scoops on large acquisitions from Apple, Microsoft and Snap. When he’s not writing, Romain is also a developer — he understands how the tech behind the tech works. He also has a deep historical knowledge of the computer industry for the past 50 years. He knows how to connect the dots between innovations and the effect on the fabric of our society. Romain graduated from Emlyon Business School, a leading French business school specialized in entrepreneurship. He has helped several non-profit organizations, such as StartHer, an organization that promotes education and empowerment of women in technology, and Techfugees, an organization that empowers displaced people with technology.
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