Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder and chief executive of Telegram, has returned to Dubai after authorities allowed him to leave France, where he is under investigation over criminal activity on the messaging app.
The billionaire, 40, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris last August. He was subsequently placed under formal investigation and banned from leaving the country, where he holds citizenship.
Durov said in a message on Telegram that he had returned to Dubai after spending several months in France “due to an investigation related to the activity of criminals on Telegram”.
“The process is ongoing, but it feels great to be home,” he said. “I want to thank the investigative judges for letting this happen, as well as my lawyers and team for their relentless efforts in demonstrating that, when it comes to moderation, cooperation and fighting crime, for years Telegram not only met but exceeded its legal obligations.”
Reports by Agence France-Presse suggest a judge had modified the conditions of his bail several days previously and authorised him to leave France for “several weeks”.
Durov flew to Dubai on Saturday morning from the airport where he had been arrested. His lawyers have been approached by French media but have made no comment. Until his conditions were relaxed, he was required to report to a police station in France twice a week and had paid €5m (£4.2m) bail. The conditions were relaxed from 15 March until 7 April.
Durov’s arrest last year was the first time the founder of a major social media company has been held over content on their platform. With more than 900 million active users, Telegram is one of the world’s top messaging apps. Durov, who launched the app in 2013, is worth more than $12bn, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index.
After days of questioning after his arrest, he was charged with several counts of failing to curb child sexual abuse images and other extreme material and released on bail.
Durov is a self-avowed libertarian who has championed encrypted messaging. Telegram permits users to post video, pictures and comments on “channels”. Durov’s has just under 12 million subscribers. Telegram also supports “groups”, or communities with up to 200,000 members each.
Talking to the US journalist Tucker Carlson last year, Durov said: “[People] love the independence. They also love the privacy, the freedom, [there are] a lot of reasons why somebody would switch to Telegram.”
Durov holds Russian, French and United Arab Emirates passports. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, expressed surprise at his arrest last year, calling France’s actions “selective in nature”.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has defended a decision to grant French nationality to Durov in 2021, saying it was a strategy concerning those who “shine in the world”. Sources close to the investigation said Durov had emphasised his links to Macron during questioning.
Telegram has also flagged attempts to clean up the platform since Durov’s arrest. According to the app’s moderation page, it has blocked more than 6.1m groups and channels in 2025, including 160,000 related to child sexual abuse material. Telegram also claims to have blocked 57,000 “terrorist related communities” this year.
Durov has also received support from Elon Musk, who posted comments on his social network X under the hashtag FreePavel. The Kremlin has warned France against turning the case against Durov “into political persecution”.
Durov initially criticised his arrest and extracts from his questioning, seen by AFP, show that he initially blamed French authorities for failing to alert Telegram to alleged criminal activity.
But he also said that “it was while I was held in custody that I realised the seriousness of all the allegations”. Investigators have confronted him with more than a dozen specific cases, ranging from child abuse to drug trading, scams, arms sales and the hiring of hitmen.