The criminal investigation into Telegram by French authorities turned two years old on Monday, with founder Pavel Durov accusing governments of punishing the platform for refusing censorship demands. The probe, opened in August 2024, remains active, even though France lifted Durov's travel restrictions in November 2025, ending a year of mandatory police check-ins.
The case that wouldn't close
French police held Durov for three days in 2024, the maximum allowed before charges. Prosecutors examined whether Telegram enabled criminal activity by failing to cooperate with lawful requests. The case never closed, and Durov says the last two years of operational data directly undercut that premise. In his telling, Telegram neither moderated content worse than rival platforms nor cooperated less with authorities.
That's a hard claim to verify from the outside, but Durov points to what he calls quietly delivered requests from officials in several countries. He says they asked for political favors, including censorship and surveillance he considers illegal. He has specifically described election-related requests in Romania and Moldova.
Durov's defense: data and demands
Speaking publicly, Durov has argued that the French investigation rests on a flawed assumption. He insists that two years of cooperation data shows Telegram responded to lawful requests at rates consistent with industry norms. He also accuses governments of punishing Telegram for refusing to bend to political pressure. In his view, the case is less about crime and more about censorship.
The accusations aren't limited to France. Durov has made similar claims about Russia, which charged him with terrorism offenses in July. And he isn't alone in that fight. Durov and Elon Musk have separately accused European regulators of using child safety as leverage to push broader demands.
Child safety in the crossfire
Telegram's own safety reporting says it has blocked 23.6 million groups and channels this year, including 370,777 tied to child abuse material and 164,099 to terrorist content. Those numbers are Telegram's own, and they don't answer the question of whether the platform has done enough.
Meanwhile, a separate report from the Tech Transparency Project found more than 50 paid ads carrying AI-generated child sexual abuse material on Meta's ad library. That finding, from a group that tracks platforms, shows the problem isn't unique to Telegram. But it also complicates any clean line between good actors and bad actors.
France's Constitutional Council, for its part, struck down a ban on social media for children under 15, citing freedom of expression. That ruling, while not directly about Telegram, adds to the tension between protecting minors and regulating speech.
Market shrugs, then doesn't
Investors seem to be watching the case with a side eye. The Telegram-linked token, formerly known as Toncoin and now called GRAM, traded around $1.47, down roughly 3% in 24 hours. That's not a crash, but it's not a vote of confidence either.
The investigation remains active, and there's no sign it's about to close. Travel restrictions may be gone, but the legal questions aren't. Durov continues to argue that two years of data proves his point. Whether French prosecutors agree remains a question that won't be answered by market moves.
