Telegram founder released from police custody as report claims iPhone hacked in 2017 French spy operation

Billionaire Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was released from police custody Wednesday and transferred to an investigative judge, according to reports. The news follows a new report that his iPhone was hacked in 2017 in a joint operation by France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Durov, who was arrested in France on Saturday for allegedly failing to cooperate over cyber and financial crimes on Telegram, was released after a four-day French police interrogation ended, according to French news outlet Figaro and a Reuters judicial source. 

The investigative judge will now rule on whether there is enough evidence to place the Russian-born billionaire under formal investigation following his arrest as part of the probe into organized crime on the messaging app. The decision is expected later on Wednesday. Investigations can last years before being sent to trial or shelved.

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Earlier Wednesday, a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter claimed Durov had his phone hacked in a spy operation in 2017 that was code-named “Purple Music” and took place about a year before Durov met with French President Emmanuel Macron for lunch, where they discussed the Russian-born tech guru becoming a French citizen.

The lunch was part of a series of meetings the French leader had with tech entrepreneurs, a source close to Macron tells Reuters. Durov was granted citizenship from both France and the UAE in 2021 with the Gulf country investing more than $75 million into his platform that year. 

The operation, according to the report, was sparked by concerns French security officials had about Islamic State’s use of Telegram to recruit operatives and plan attacks.

A former French intelligence official from France’s General Directorate for Internal Security told the outlet that compromising Telegram was a long-term effort of the country’s spy services, although the official didn’t comment on the alleged hacking operation against Durov. 

It is unclear how long his phone was being hacked. Durov created the encrypted messaging service Telegram in 2013, which helped drive his net worth to around $15.5 billion, according to Forbes. 

The French foreign ministry and the UAE foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Fox Business’ request for comment. 

The app is now based in the UAE, where Durov has been living, and has over 900 million monthly active users, according to its own data. Durov also has citizenship in the Caribbean island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The app has drawn ire from some governments as they try to clamp down on platforms spreading misinformation or information critical of governments. It has played a key role in disseminating information on the Russia-Ukraine war, with authorities on both sides using its channels to broadcast their narratives about the conflict. The app works by users joining individual channels and groups to view content.

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Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder of Telegram Durov, was arrested in France on Saturday for allegedly failing to cooperate over cyber and financial crimes on Telegram. (Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch / Getty Images)

Durov, who was born in Soviet Leningrad, graduated from St. Petersburg State University and left Russia in 2014 after refusing government orders to shut down opposition communities on his former social media platform, VK, which he has since sold, according to Reuters. 

He was arrested on Saturday at Le Bourget airport outside Paris after reportedly landing on a private jet from Azerbaijan, in a judicial inquiry opened last month involving 12 alleged criminal violations, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Monday. His arrest prompted swift outcry from free speech advocates, including fellow tech billionaire and X owner Elon Musk, and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has brought censorship allegations against the media and the Biden-Harris administration.

The high-profile arrest saw Macron on Monday claim the detainment was “in no way a political decision.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement Monday that the suspected violations include complicity in selling child pornography and in drug trafficking, fraud, abetting organized crime transactions and refusing to share information or documents with investigators when required by law, the Associated Press reported. The prosecutor’s office did not say which crime or crimes Durov himself might be suspected of.

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Elon Musk criticized the arrest of Durov. (Marc Piasecki/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Jean-Michel Bernigaud, secretary general of OFMIN, a French police agency tasked with preventing violence against minors, said Durov’s arrest was related to the platform allegedly not properly moderating content related to child sex crimes. 

Despite the 2018 visit with Macron, French authorities long viewed Telegram with suspicion, and have been taking a hardline approach to regulating online platforms by rooting out what they deem as information fueling antisemitism and racism and tackling illegal commerce on their platforms. 

The European Union also this year approved the Digital Services Act, which requires online platforms to do more to police the internet for illegal content. Companies face fines of up to 10% of annual global turnover for DMA violations and 6% for DSA breaches. 

Fox Business’ Danielle Wallace and Reuters contributed to this report.