According to BlockBeats, Telegram has reportedly ignored subpoenas and court orders for years, with these legal documents accumulating in a rarely checked company email address, as revealed by a source close to Pavel Durov. This practice of disregarding legal requests has been ongoing for an extended period, raising questions about the company's compliance with law enforcement directives.
Additionally, sources disclosed that during a lunch meeting in 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron invited Pavel Durov to relocate Telegram's operations to Paris. Durov declined the offer, despite Macron's discussion of potentially granting him French citizenship. This invitation highlights the strategic interest of France in attracting influential tech companies and their leaders.
In a related incident, it was revealed that in 2017, French spies collaborated with the United Arab Emirates in a covert operation targeting Pavel Durov. The operation, codenamed 'Purple Music,' involved hacking into Durov's iPhone. This espionage activity underscores the lengths to which some governments may go to monitor and potentially influence key figures in the tech industry.