Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Moved From Custody to French Court: Report

Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov has been taken to court by French authorities, according to a report.

CNN reported Wednesday that the tech entrepreneur had been moved from police custody in France and taken to court for questioning.

French authorities arrested the CEO of the popular encrypted messaging app Telegram outside of Paris late Saturday.

The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office alleges that Telegram is complicit in allowing illegal material to be shared on the platform. Criminal groups and fraudsters use the the app and Telegram does not do enough to moderate content on it, French authorities allege. They also said that Durov is under investigation for using certain types of cryptography on the platform in the country without permission.

Telegram prides itself on emphasizing privacy. Durov, who is Russian-born, frequently speaks about the importance of liberty and free speech. His arrest sparked an outcry across the tech industry, with prominent figures including Edward Snowden and Elon Musk criticizing the move to hold Durov responsible for actions taken by users on his platform.

CNN said that Durov would now face “initial questioning and possible indictment.” The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to Decrypt‘s request for comment.

Toncoin (TON)’s price is today up nearly 4% and trading hands for $5.68, according to CoinGecko. The coin briefly lost its place as the 10th biggest digital asset by market cap on Monday following the arrest of Durov, but it has since regained its position.

TON is the token of The Open Network, a blockchain network that Telegram initially developed internally before abandoning it in 2020 due to regulatory scrutiny. Community builders continued to develop the network, which Telegram has since embraced and started using. A sizable community of Telegram-based crypto games is also building on TON.

The Open Network stopped processing transactions on Tuesday following a period of congestion that a TON spokesperson attributed to demand for a meme coin called DOGS. Binance and Bybit suspended trading of TON amid the hours-long downtime, but service was restored at approximately 1:30am ET Wednesday.

Edited by Andrew Hayward