France's Telegram case turned two years old on Monday, with founder Pavel Durov marking the date by accusing governments of punishing the app for refusing censorship demands. According to reports from The Times of India, the French criminal investigation opened in August 2024 remains active, with Durov arguing the case has weakened as evidence about Telegram's moderation record has accumulated. Durov says officials in several countries quietly asked Telegram for political favors, including censorship and surveillance he considers illegal, with refusal triggering campaigns from local media and advocacy groups. As reported by BeInCrypto, Durov now argues that two years of data undercut the premise of the investigation, with Telegram neither moderating worse than rivals nor cooperating less with authorities.
French police held Durov for three days in 2024, the longest period allowed before charges, which he describes as a first with a platform executive accused over offenses committed by users. As reported by The Times of India, restrictions on him have since loosened, with France lifting his travel restrictions in November 2025, ending a year of mandatory police check-ins. However, the probe itself never closed, with French prosecutors examining whether Telegram enabled criminal activity by failing to cooperate with lawful requests. According to BeInCrypto, Durov has previously described requests tied to elections in Romania and Moldova, and he and Elon Musk have separately accused European regulators of using child safety as leverage.
According to The Times of India, Telegram's safety page reports 23.6 million groups and channels blocked this year, of which 370,777 were tied to child abuse material and 164,099 to terrorist content. Durov argues that Telegram neither moderated worse than rivals nor cooperated less with authorities. He has previously described requests tied to elections in Romania and Moldova, and he and Elon Musk have separately accused European regulators of using child safety as leverage. Meanwhile, the Tech Transparency Project found more than 50 paid ads carrying AI-generated child sexual abuse material in Meta's ad library this month, as reported by BeInCrypto.
As reported by The Times of India, Durov expects the investigation to eventually face questions of its own, pointing to domestic pushback against President Emmanuel Macron's online rules. France's Constitutional Council struck down a ban on social media for children under 15 on August 14, citing freedom of expression, with judges now testing how far the government can restrict platforms before free expression protections apply. Durov has made similar accusations against Russia, which charged him with terrorism offenses in July. GRAM, the Telegram-linked token formerly known as Toncoin, traded around $1.47 on Monday, down roughly 3% in 24 hours. Whether French prosecutors move toward trial or quietly wind the case down may become clearer in the months ahead.
