Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov was accustomed to rubbing shoulders with France’s business and political elite during frequent visits to the country, where he bounced between Parisian palace hotels and the sun-soaked south.
But last month, the 39-year-old received a hostile welcome upon arriving on a private jet at Paris-Le Bourget airport. The Russia-born billionaire, who is now a French-Emirati citizen, was arrested and later placed under formal investigation over alleged complicity in criminal activity on his messaging app, from drug trafficking to the dissemination of child sexual abuse material.
Durov, who goes by the name “Du Rove” on his Telegram channel as well as his French passport, wrote on Thursday he was surprised to be personally targeted for “other people’s illegal use of Telegram”.
Banned from leaving France, his detention has sparked diplomatic uproar and a global debate over free speech against online safety. But the events also show how Durov had grown comfortable in France and failed to heed law enforcement concerns about Telegram.
“The French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance. As a French citizen, I was a frequent guest at the French consulate in Dubai,” Durov wrote, adding that he had recently helped French authorities establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with terrorism threats.
Prior to his arrest, Durov enjoyed a warm embrace by the French authorities, particularly after 2017, when a newly elected administration under Emmanuel Macron was keen to promote France as a destination for entrepreneurship and tech investment.
A year later, the French president met Durov at the Élysée Palace, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. In 2021, the country granted him French citizenship under a special emeritus status, adding to his collection of passports that include ones for the United Arab Emirates and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Official France liked Telegram. Macron has had an active account since 2016 on which he posted as recently as mid-August. Much of his 2017 presidential campaign was run on its channels, according to two people involved. Once in power, Telegram was widely used in his administration, according to the people.
That changed last year when then-prime minister Élisabeth Borne issued a circular requiring members of the government to remove apps such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram from their phones in favour of a homegrown alternative over concerns about their security. Even so, the French interior ministry’s main communication channel with journalists remains on Telegram.
Macron has been left to defend the decision to grant Durov French citizenship. “It was taken in the context of a concerted strategy,” Macron said last month, pointing out that the same status was given to entrepreneurs such as Snap’s Evan Spiegel as well as professional athletes and actors.
“It’s a very good thing and I will continue to do it,” the president said, adding he was “absolutely unaware” of the investigation or Durov’s arrival in France.
Telegram, founded in 2013, eventually moved its base to Dubai. But its chief has spent the past decade also forging ties with eminent French figures.
This includes tech and telecoms mogul Xavier Niel, who helped broker introductions for Durov in France, according to two people with knowledge of the relationship. After his arrest, Durov first requested contact with Niel, according to AFP, though there is no indication as to whether the French entrepreneur was reached or responded.
People with knowledge of Durov’s visits to Paris said he would stay at the city’s famous hotels, including the Plaza Athénée, the Ritz and the Hôtel de Crillon. He was a guest at Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s palatial villa in Antibes before it was seized by the French government in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
As well as mingling in the French start-up and venture capital scenes, he would also attend events with American investors and venture capitalists visiting France.
“I am a big admirer of French culture, art, design, architecture, cuisine, history and language,” Durov wrote on Telegram in 2018. “France is certain to play an even larger role in the world culture and economy in years to come.”
“Aside from the girlfriends and the hotels, where it’s clear he liked to indulge himself . . . he is not a show off,” said a person in France’s tech scene. “He is extremely focused on his company. A real entrepreneur.”
“He likes procreating,” said another person who has had dealings with Durov in Dubai, referring to the billionaire’s boast on Telegram that he had fathered “over 100 biological kids” through sperm donation. “Other than that I think he lives a kosher life.”
Durov has historically been wary of getting close to governments. Having launched VKontakte, Russia’s answer to Facebook, Durov has said he was forced to leave the company and Russia in 2014 after refusing demands from Moscow to share the data of Ukrainian opposition users.
Leaked travel records published by Russian language media and court documents from a separate criminal process in Switzerland indicate he has travelled in and out of his country of origin regularly in the years since.
Durov previously dismissed questions over links to the Kremlin as “conspiracy theories”.
The terms of Durov’s judicial monitoring in France could change. He is “banned from leaving the country [but] in time this obligation could disappear, either ordered by the investigating judge in charge of the case, or the investigating chamber”, said Jérôme Goudard, a criminal lawyer in Paris. “This could be done with regard to his professional situation: he is the CEO of a multinational company, on top of the diplomatic issues.”
“We are prepared to leave markets that aren’t compatible with our principles,” Durov wrote on Thursday. He, however, remains stuck in France.
“All the big tech people know Pavel, but they will all say that they know him very little,” said the person in the French tech scene. “I had the impression he was a person who was very alone.”
Additional reporting by Robert Smith and Sam Jones
