“Arrest Warrant” – The Time

French-Russian billionaire Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, who was arrested Saturday evening at Le Bourget airport in France, has been released by police and transferred to a Paris court for possible indictment, the AFP news agency reported, citing a source. Earlier, Russia’s Ria Novosti agency reported that two cars with flashing lights sped away from the National Anti-Fraud Office in the Paris suburbs, where Durov was reportedly being held. His pretrial detention was set to expire today.

At the same time, news is bouncing that French authorities have also issued an arrest warrant for his brother and co-founder of the app, Nikolai. This is revealed by an administrative document seen exclusively by Politico, which shows that the investigation into Telegram is broad and began months earlier than previously known. The case revolves around the messaging app’s refusal to cooperate with a French police investigation into child sexual abuse. According to the specialized news site, the warrants for Pavel and his brother Nikolai – the technical “genius” behind Telegram – date back to March 25 for crimes including “complicity in the possession, distribution, offering or making available of child pornography images in an organized group”. French media had previously reported that the investigation had been opened in July. The arrest warrants, Politico further specifies, were issued after the platform gave “no response” to a request from authorities to identify a Telegram user. The document also highlights Telegram’s “almost non-existent cooperation” with French and European authorities in other cases.

On Durov, the French justice system will have to decide today whether to indict and order pre-trial detention. The platform, which has nearly a billion users, has assured that it “respects the laws of the European Union” and that “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse”. Telegram has positioned itself as an alternative to American messaging platforms, criticized for the commercial exploitation of users’ personal data. Telegram plays a key role in the context of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, and is actively used by politicians and observers on both sides. Its detractors accuse Telegram of hosting often illegal content, from extreme sexual images to disinformation, including drug purchase services.

Durov, who has settled in Dubai in recent years and also holds a French passport, arrived in Paris from Baku and had intended to have dinner in the French capital, according to sources familiar with the matter. Russian President Vladimir Putin was also in the Azerbaijani capital on August 18 and 19, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the two had met. Moscow said on Monday that the charges against Durov were “very serious” and warned France not to try to “intimidate” the businessman, although French President Emmanuel Macron denied his detention was “political.” Durov, whose fortune Forbes estimates at $15.5 billion, has also received support from X owner Elon Musk and Edward Snowden.