Pavel Durov Slams French Government Over "Unprecedented" Legal Pressure

Pavel Durov, founder of the encrypted messaging platform Telegram, has publicly criticized the French government over the ongoing legal proceedings following his 2024 arrest. In a post on Telegram, Durov claimed that the criminal investigation against him has “gone nowhere” and “struggles to find anything that I or Telegram did wrong.” He described the arrest as “unprecedented” and argued that it was “legally and logically absurd” to hold a tech executive responsible for the actions of independent users [1].

Durov further emphasized that Telegram’s content moderation practices are aligned with industry standards and that the platform has always complied with “every legally binding request” from French authorities. Despite these assertions, he is still required to return to France every 14 days for court appearances, with no appeal date set. He warned that the French government has caused “irreparable damage” to France’s reputation as a free and open society [1].

The arrest has sparked strong criticism from the cryptocurrency community, human rights organizations, and free speech advocates. Many have accused French authorities of using the case to pressure Telegram into implementing more rigorous content moderation and censorship policies. Some argue that the move signals a broader effort to erode digital privacy and freedom of expression [1].

French President Emmanuel Macron has denied the arrest was politically motivated, stating in a post on X that the government upholds the rule of law to protect citizens and their fundamental rights. However, his comments were met with sharp rebuttals. Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius, questioned why Macron was not held accountable for failing to control all crime in France [1].

Durov has consistently stated that Telegram will never compromise user privacy by surrendering encryption keys or enabling backdoors in its service. He has reiterated that the company will exit any jurisdiction that demands such actions, prioritizing user rights and digital freedom over regulatory pressures [1].

Source: [1] Cointelegraph – [https://cointelegraph.com/news/pavel-durov-case-going-nowhere-slams-french-gov](https://cointelegraph.com/news/pavel-durov-case-going-nowhere-slams-french-gov)