After Pavel Durov was arrested in France, Telegram recently published a statement on Aug. 26, claiming that the social messenger platform abides by European Union (EU) laws, including the Digital Services Act. 

Telegram further mentioned that Durov has “nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.” They also stated that it is “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse of that platform.” They are currently waiting for a prompt resolution of the current situation. 

On Aug. 24, French authorities arrested Durov at Paris-Le Bourget airport. The French investigator had issued an arrest warrant for Durov’s arrest as part of an inquiry into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, promotion of terrorism, and cyberbullying, according to reports from The Guardian. 

The French authorities had accused Durov of failing to mitigate the criminal activities taking place on the social messenger platform. 

On Aug. 25, the French judicial authorities reportedly extended the detention of Durov and is expected that the questioning can last up to a maximum of 96 hours. After the time is up, the judge may either decide to free Durov or press charges against Telegram’s CEO based on the investigation’s results. 

Durov’s arrest was shocking to the tech world as the community came to his support asking the authorities to free Telegram’s CEO. The community further questioned whether the authorities were attacking the free speech of citizens and violating the right to privacy by arresting Durov. 

The CEO of X, Elon Musk, showed his support for Durov by uploading a video of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Telegram’s CEO, and putting the caption “#FreePavel.” Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, also came in support of Durov, claiming that the charge — from the available information — seems to be about not giving up people’s data. 

One of the reasons why the community is supporting Durov is because Telegram’s CEO supports free speech and the right to privacy. 

TON, an altcoin associated with Telegram and its founder, saw a 17.47% fall over the seven day period, according to the data from CoinMarketCap. Although TON was trading above $6, the altcoin is currently trading at $5.64, at the time of writing.