ISTANBUL

Telegram founder Pavel Durov on Sunday criticized French authorities over what he described as a “strange arrest” a year ago, saying the ongoing case against him has tarnished France’s reputation as a free country.

Durov said he was held by French police for four days in August 2024 after unidentified individuals allegedly used Telegram to coordinate criminal activities.

“Arresting a CEO of a major platform over the actions of its users was not only unprecedented — it was legally and logically absurd,” he wrote on his Telegram account.

He accused French authorities of bypassing national and EU procedures for making requests to the platform before his detention.

“They could have learned the correct procedure simply by googling it or asking,” he said.

“So far, the only outcome of my arrest has been massive damage to France’s image as a free country,” Durov had posted on Sunday.

The billionaire tech entrepreneur said that Telegram’s moderation policies meet industry standards and that the platform complies with binding legal requests.

According to him, investigators have yet to present any evidence of wrongdoing by him or the company.

“One year after this strange arrest, I still have to return to France every 14 days, with no appeal date in sight,” he said.

French prosecutors announced in 2024 that Durov was under investigation on suspicion of enabling illegal activities through Telegram, which has more than 900 million users worldwide.

He was detained at Paris’ Le Bourget airport on several charges, including complicity in running a network platform to facilitate illegal transactions as part of a criminal group.