Durov is currently under investigation.
Six years before Pavel Durov ended up in a French prison, the founder of the Telegram messenger visited France under completely different circumstances: he dined with President Emmanuel Macron.
At a previously unreported dinner in 2018, Macron invited Durov to move Telegram's headquarters to Paris, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Pavel Durov refused Macron, although the French leader was already discussing granting him French citizenship, which, however, the Russian later received.
The Wall Street Journal article also notes that “a year earlier, Pavel Durov’s phone was hacked by the intelligence services of France and the UAE.”
Pavel Durov was detained on the evening of August 24 at Le Bourget Airport in Paris. He faces up to 20 years in prison if found complicit in illegal activities carried out via Telegram. Telegram has published an official statement regarding the detention in France of its founder and director Pavel Durov, who has “nothing to hide.” French authorities extended his detention on Sunday, August 25. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has demanded that France provide Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who was detained in Paris, with access to all necessary consular services.
Today, it was reported that the Indian authorities are not ruling out a complete ban on Telegram in the country. South Korea has also launched its own investigation into deepfakes.
