Pavel Durov’s fall from French favour

On 18 October, French and Belgian investigators announced that they would be joining forces to progress the investigation into illicit activities on the social media and instant messaging platform Telegram, by signing a joint investigation team under the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, Eurojust.

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested on 24 August on arrival in Paris. Four days later, he was indicted on six charges related to illicit activity on his app, including enabling criminal activity on the platform and refusing to cooperate with law enforcement agencies. His bail was set at €5 million, and he was banned from leaving France for the duration of the investigation, reporting to a police station twice a week.

The extensive media reporting of Durov’s arrest drew attention to his multiple passports, and the lengths that influential figures in France and the UAE were willing to go to try and win his favour, and Telegram’s business. Durov is a Russian citizen by birth, and the fact that he also holds Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship is unremarkable given that the Caribbean country has the longest-running citizenship by investment programme dating back to 1984. Durov’s name was published in the naturalisation section of the French Gazette in August 2021, however, according to sources quoted by Politico, Durov was granted French citizenship by President Macron himself in 2018. Macron was, at the time, attempting to persuade global technology leaders to invest in France. Nevertheless, a senior French official stated that although there was a wider, concurrent campaign to offer citizenship to other pioneers, entrepreneurs and high-performing athletes, the Durov citizenship case was rare, with very few other “pioneers” actually being offered a French passport.

Ultimately, Durov chose the UAE as Telegram’s base following his departure from Russia in 2017. Durov relocated to Dubai, establishing Telegram’s headquarters in Dubai’s Media City, and gaining Emirati citizenship in February 2021. This followed an amendment to the UAE’s citizenship laws in January 2021 which allowed for those with high levels of investment in the UAE and “special talents” to be nominated for Emirati nationality, subject to special provisions.

Following Durov’s arrest in France, the UAE appealed for “urgent consular services” for its arrested citizen, noting the country’s commitment to citizens who acquired their status through the country’s legal amendments in 2021. Such an attitude is a rarity in a country where 90 percent of the population are foreigners with no path to citizenship. While the UAE may well have wanted to demonstrate its commitment to protecting its new non-Emirati citizens, Telegram’s Dubai headquarters and financial successes are likely significantly linked to the ready offers of consular assistance. It is worth noting that Durov has so far rejected offers for help from the embassies of both the UAE and Russia but did request that the embassy of the UAE in France be updated as to the progress of his case.

Telegram’s Emirati backer

An underreported aspect of this case, however, is the fact that the website of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company PJSC (Mubadala) lists Telegram as one of its portfolio companies. Mubadala and Mubadala joint-venture company Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners each invested $75 million in Telegram in 2021. According to Mubadala’s press release, the investment and “strategic partnership” came with the opening of a Telegram office in the Abu Dhabi Global Market freezone.

Telegram’s financial success is a likely explanation as to why both France and the UAE were keen to encourage Durov to settle in their respective countries. According to media coverage from early 2024, Telegram had grown to have 900 million monthly users and revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars. The company was reportedly considering an IPO. However, Durov has so far refused to comment on a possible listing venue.

Aside from the UAE’s favourable business and financial conditions, Durov’s decision to base Telegram in the UAE is curious. Durov is famously committed to total freedom of speech. His lack of cooperation with authorities in Russia led to his exit from the country in 2017. Durov left Russia and sold his shares in his previous startup, social media platform VKontakte, after he refused to share the details of anti-Russian activists with the Russian state. Similarly, his refusal to share Telegram users’ data with French law enforcement agencies was officially the reason behind his recent arrest in France. The UAE is a country known for its authoritarian nature, restrictive media landscape and use of spyware and other surveillance techniques. Telegram, and more specifically, Durov’s relationship with the UAE is therefore intriguing.

Censorship and spying – the UAE’s track record

The UAE has a low score of 18/100 on Freedom House’s 2024 Freedom in the World Ranking, with both its overall and internet freedom scores deemed “not free”. What’s more, the country’s 1980 publishing and 2012 cybercrime laws, among others, prohibit media criticism of the government in print or online. It is widely acknowledged that state security agencies in the UAE engage in extensive surveillance and hacking activities aimed at perceived opponents of the government, monitoring public and private online communications for critical speech using advanced commercial spyware products. So why has Durov chosen the UAE as Telegram’s new home?

One of the most prominent examples of the UAE’s misuse of spyware technology was the scandal surrounding the Pegasus software. In October 2021, Israel-based cyber intelligence firm NSO Group Technologies ended its contract with the Government of the UAE after the ruler of Dubai used the company’s Pegasus software to hack the mobile phones of his ex-wife and those close to her. Separately, in December 2021, new forensic analysis revealed that the Emirati authorities had secretly embedded Pegasus spyware onto the phone of the wife of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, months before his murder in Istanbul in October 2018. Mainstream media outlets have referred to the software as “military grade spyware” designed for use against terrorists and criminals. These are just two examples of the Emirati authorities’ misuse of such tools against civilians.

Telegram has been described as an app whose commitment to privacy has attracted political dissidents, hacktivists and no shortage of criminals among its users. Given the restrictive media landscape in the UAE and the lack of freedom of speech, it is intriguing why the country would want to host Telegram, or why a privacy advocate like Durov would want to base himself there.

Placatory announcement or genuine change?

Following Durov’s arrest, in late September Telegram announced that it would be taking a more proactive approach to complying with government and law enforcement requests for access to information going forward. The platform’s announcement stated that the app will hand over users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities, providing that they have search warrants or other valid legal requests. Durov clarified in a later statement that the announcement did not represent a major shift in how Telegram interacts with law enforcement; the company has already been disclosing criminal data to authorities for years. Durov repeated a prior accusation that authorities in some jurisdictions had not been using the correct lines of communication to request this data, as an explanation as to Telegram’s supposed lack of cooperation. According to Durov, Telegram has been able to disclose the IP addresses and phone numbers of criminals to authorities since 2018.

Despite the recent updates to Telegram’s privacy policy, the investigation into Telegram and Durov continues. Durov’s arrest and the ensuing media attention have brought the Telegram founder’s close relations with powerful government figures in both France and the UAE to the public’s attention. Durov’s choice of the UAE over France has led some to speculate that his arrest and the French authorities’ hard line in this case may have had deeper motivations; perhaps an attempt by Western powers to assert control over the platform. Furthermore, Durov’s close ties with the Government of the UAE combined with the country’s dire record on privacy and media freedoms raises questions about what level of access authorities in the UAE, and potentially other jurisdictions too, have had to Telegram’s user data all along?

Francesca Povey, Analyst

francesca.povey@aperio-intelligence.com