Durov has spoken out for the first time following his arrest last week, defending the platform’s moderation efforts and criticizing authorities for targeting him personally over users’ illegal activities.

Today, nearly a week after the CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was indicted in France, he released a statement addressing his recent legal troubles in the country. 

In a post on his official Telegram channel, Durov expressed surprise at his charges, emphasizing that the messaging app has an official EU representative handling law enforcement requests. He criticized the authorities for bypassing established communication channels and questioning him personally. 

He argued that pre-smartphone laws to charge a CEO with crimes committed by others on the platform he manages is “a misguided approach.”

Durov defended Telegram’s moderation practices, pointing out the platform’s daily efforts to remove harmful content and maintain hotlines with NGOs for urgent requests.

“We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day. We publish daily transparency reports… we have direct hotlines with NGOs to process urgent moderation requests faster.”

Durov

Durov emphasized the challenges of balancing privacy and security while maintaining global consistency, particularly in countries with weaker rules of law. He highlighted Telegram’s willingness to leave markets where its principles are compromised, citing bans in Russia and Iran for refusing government demands. He added:

We are prepared to leave markets that aren’t compatible with our principles, because we are not doing this for money. We are driven by the intention to bring good and defend the basic rights of people, particularly in places where these rights are violated.

Durov’s arrest on Aug. 24 sparked a sharp decline in Toncoin (TON), the cryptocurrency linked to Telegram, which plunged 20% around the time of his arrest.

Durov’s charges

Last week, Durov was placed under judicial supervision after being indicted on charges related to inadequate content moderation on Telegram, including accusations of terrorism and drug trafficking. He was arrested at Le Bourget airport near Paris and now faces a court-mandated ban on leaving French territory and twice-weekly police check-ins.

Durov, a Franco-Russian billionaire, has faced legal challenges, with French authorities accusing him of complicity in various illegal activities. He faced 12 alleged charges.

Durov acknowledged that Telegram has a long way to go before being crime-free. Durov expressed that he is committed to improving Telegram’s content moderation efforts, acknowledging some growing pains due to the platform’s rapid user growth. 

Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform. That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. 

He also reaffirmed the company’s mission to protect user privacy while cooperating with regulators. However, he made it clear that Telegram is willing to exit markets where its values are compromised.

The crypto community was in an uproar over the arrest and strongly supported Durov. 

Telegram founder predicted to face up to 20 years in prison. What’s going on?

Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messenger, was detained at Paris-Le Bourget Airport upon exiting a private jet. The entrepreneur, a French citizen, may face charges for multiple crimes carried out through Telegram.

Among the possible ones are terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, and pedophile content. However, some sources put forward other reasons for the arrest of the founder of the messenger.

Why is Durov arrested?

American journalist Tucker Carlson believes that Durov’s arrest is a warning for those who refuse to “censor the truth at the behest of governments and intel agencies.”

LCI TV channel journalist Cyril Amursky noted that Durov faces up to 20 years in prison in France for a criminal case. In addition, Durov cannot ask for asylum in France since he is a citizen of this republic and is wanted only there. The journalist suggested that the businessman could have made an unplanned stop in France due to a lack of fuel.

At the same time, the State Duma explained the businessman’s arrest by his unwillingness to cooperate with the U.S. authorities:

Durov has been in the status of a person who poses a threat to U.S. national security since he dared to challenge the dollar’s dominance and managed to interest large American investors in the “new generation cryptocurrency.

State Duma deputy Anton Gorelkin

Journalists from the Sabah publication believe that the purpose of the detention of the messenger founder is to hide what is happening in Gaza. The publication claims that France will be followed by other countries that want to close anti-Zionist news channels that Telegram does not censor.

Commenting on Durov’s arrest, Steffen Kotre, a member of the German parliament, emphasized that this is a fight against the opposition. He noted that the German media often call Telegram a platform for right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists.

Crypto community reactions

The Toncoin (TON) cryptocurrency fell by almost 20% amid the arrest of the Telegram founder, falling from $6.83 to $5.37. Later, the coin recovered a little and was trading at $5.63 at the time of writing.

Many crypto industry participants supported Durov, and some even bought TON. Thus, the founder of DWF Labs, Andrey Grachev, bought TON tokens for $500,000 and said he would sell them when Durov was released. Following Grachev, the Memeland project also bought TON tokens for $1 million in support of Durov and promised not to sell them until his release.

Things Foundation launched a fan token supporting Durov — Resistance Capybara (CPBR). Its capitalization soared to several million dollars in the first minutes. The token grew by 300%

Billionaire Elon Musk called the Telegram founder’s detention a convincing advertisement for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. He also published a fragment of Durov’s interview, where the entrepreneur discussed freedom of speech. Musk accompanied the video with the hashtag #FreePavel.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino believes Durov’s arrest is deeply concerning. Dark times will come if we lose the battle for free speech and communication.

Nothing to hide

The Telegram team claims that detained founder Pavel Durov has “nothing to hide.”

Telegram said that its moderation meets industry standards and is constantly being improved, adding that the platform complies with EU laws, including the Digital Services Act.

They also admitted that Durov’s arrest represents the most radical national measures against the head of a social network and threatens to fuel the global debate on whether platforms should prioritize online security or freedom of speech.

Community reacts to Durov’s arrest with memes

Despite its disappointment in Durov’s arrest, the community also responded with humor. Many memes about the Telegram founder’s arrest appeared on X:

Meanwhile, merch in support of Durov began to appear in the Russian marketplace.

What awaits Durov?

There are many messengers in the world where the same violations occur as Telegram, but neither the owner of WhatsApp, Signal, Threema, or Discord has been arrested.

At the same time, Durov may be accused of involvement in terrorism, fraud, and money laundering due to his refusal to cooperate with the security forces; the hearing scheduled for Aug. 25 has been postponed. The judges of the Paris court need another 48 hours to formulate the charges.