According to Odaily Planet Daily, a person close to Pavel Durov revealed that for years, the company has ignored subpoenas and court orders issued by law enforcement agencies, which have been piled up in a rarely checked company email address.

In addition, according to people familiar with the matter, at a lunch in 2018, Macron invited Pavel Durov to move Telegram to Paris, but Durov refused at the time. Macron even discussed granting Pavel Durov French citizenship.

French spies worked with the United Arab Emirates in 2017 to target Pavel Durov and hack into his iPhone in an operation codenamed "Purple Music," according to people familiar with the matter.