The UAE requested consular services for Telegram’s Pavel Durov on Tuesday, after the Dubai-based tech chief was jailed in France for allegedly failing to restrict illicit activity on the platform.
“The UAE is closely following the case of its citizen Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, who was arrested by the French authorities in Paris–Le Bourget Airport,” the Gulf state’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The UAE has submitted a request to the Government of the French Republic to provide him with all the necessary consular services in an urgent manner,” it added.
Durov, the 39-year-old billionaire who founded the chat network, was arrested at the Paris airport late Saturday.
He is accused of failing to prevent the dissemination of unlawful content on Telegram, which has over 900 million users. The corporation has denied the charges.
As the internet billionaire spent his second day in French detention, French President Emmanuel Macron denied that his arrest had a political motivation.
According to a source close to the investigation, French officials renewed his initial custody for interrogation late Monday till Wednesday.
Durov founded Telegram after fleeing Russia a decade ago, and Forbes magazine estimates his current worth at $15.5 billion.
He has a French passport in addition to Russian citizenship.According to Telegram’s news release, its founder holds “dual citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and France”.
Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, said Monday that Moscow has received no information from France about why he was detained, and that “we do not know concretely what Durov is accused of”.
Telegram, based in Dubai, stated on Sunday that “Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe”.
“Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards,” it added.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”