The founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, allows France to leave – despite the ongoing criminal investigation

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Messaging App Telegram, no longer has to stay in France. AFP announced a source that the investigative judge responsible in the event of Durov had accepted an application to change the conditions of his supervision.

“As you may have heard, I returned to Dubai after several months in France because it has an investigation in connection with the activity of criminals in the telegram,” Durov wrote in a message on Monday that was published in his telegram channel. “The process continues, but it feels great to be at home.”

Durov was arrested on August 24, 2024 after leaving Le Bourget Airport in France. He spent four days in police custody and led to widespread reporting on his arrest.

Shortly afterwards, the criminal court responsible for the investigation in Paris declared the reasons for his arrest. Most charges revolve around the founder of the telegram, which is supposedly involved in the facilitating of organized fraud, illegal transitions and the exchange of CSAM (material material for sexual abuse) on messaging and social platform.

At this point, Durov agreed to pay a deposit of 5 million euros (5.5 million US dollars to current exchange rates) and check in a police station twice a week. He was also allowed to leave France during the examination. But these conditions seem to have been modified now and enable him to legally leave the country.

The Paris court published no explanation of the reasons for changes in Durov's supervisory conditions.

A few days after his arrest, Telegram has updated its website and the app to explicitly enable users to report private chats to its moderators. Before the arrest, the company had said that it was “[did] no inquiries related to the connection with [moderating chats and group chats]. “”

After this radical change, Telegram removed millions of groups and channels.

In further remarks on Durov's channel, in which he announced his arrival in Dubai, the CEO of Telegram wrote: “I would like to thank the investigative judges for making this happen, as well as my lawyers and my team for their relentless efforts to demonstrate that in the event of moderation, collaboration and fight against crime, for years, but for years only fulfilled the legal obligations, but has exceeded. ” Telegram only met the legal obligations that not only exceeded the legal obligations. “

Durov is not yet out of the forest. Despite his collaboration, the investigation continues and could still lead to criminal proceedings in France. On the positive side, Durov does not have to submit his taxes from 2025 in France.