President Emmanuel Macron defended a decision to grant French nationality to Telegram chief Pavel Durov, who faces a possible trial related to illegal content carried on his popular messaging app.
Speaking to reporters on a visit to Serbia on Thursday, the French president said he did not know that Durov would be coming to France and denied having issued “any invitation whatsoever” to the Russian-born billionaire.
“We are a country where there is a separation of powers,” Macron said.
“I was completely unaware that he was coming. This is normal,” he added.
Macron said he “totally” backed the decision to grant Durov citizenship, adding it was a “strategy” concerning those who “make the effort to learn the French language” and who “shine in the world”.
Macron also mentioned Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, who like Durov won French citizenship not through the normal difficult and bureaucratic process but via a special process for “merited foreigners”.
Durov, 39, was sensationally detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris at the weekend and on Wednesday evening charged with a litany of violations related to the messaging app. He was also banned from leaving the country.
Numerous questions have been raised about the timing and circumstances of Durov’s detention, with supporters seeing him as a freedom of speech champion and detractors as a menace who wilfully allowed Telegram to get out of control.
According to a source close to the investigation, Durov had emphasised his links to the French head of state during questioning.
Le Monde newspaper reported on Wednesday that Durov had met Macron on several occasions prior to receiving French nationality in 2021, via a special procedure reserved for those deemed to have made a special contribution to France.
Durov’s lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski said it was “absurd” to suggest Durov could be implicated in any crime committed on the app, adding: “Telegram complies in all respects with European rules concerning digital technology”.
Durov was granted conditional release on a bail of €5 million (US$5.5 million) and on the condition he must report to a police station twice a week as well as remaining in France, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
The charges concern alleged crimes involving an organised group, including “complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable an illicit transaction”.
This charge alone could see him jailed for up to 10 years and fined €500,000 if convicted.
Durov has also been charged with refusing to share documents demanded by authorities as well as “dissemination in an organised group of images of minors in child pornography” as well as drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering.
The next step will be for the case to be sent to trial.
A source close to the case, who asked not to be named, told Agence France-Presse on Thursday that after his arrest Durov asked that French telecoms tycoon Xavier Niel, chairman and founder of the Iliad mobile operator, be informed of his arrest.
Niel is seen as being close to Macron. Niel’s entourage declined to comment.
Durov’s arrest is a first for a CEO of a major messaging platform as tensions mount between governments and social media giants. But it is not the first time Telegram has had a run-in with police and judicial authorities.
In 2022, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes temporarily suspended Telegram in Brazil, saying it had repeatedly refused to adhere to judicial orders.
At the time, Durov blamed any shortcomings on email issues and apologised. He voiced confidence that Telegram would soon be able to “efficiently process takedown requests for public channels that are illegal in Brazil”.
The Kremlin said that the prosecution against Durov, whose app has nearly 1 billion users, should not turn into “political persecution”. Some pro-Kremlin figures have accused Washington of being behind the detention of Durov.
Durov also has UAE citizenship. A UAE government official said it “prioritises the welfare of its citizens” and was “in touch with the French authorities about this case”.
Additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters
