France Allows Telegram Founder Durov to Travel—for Now

On Monday, French prosecutors said investigators in the case had temporarily relaxed the terms of Durov’s bail for three weeks—until April 7—but that no deal had been struck to settle the preliminary charges against the Telegram CEO. It wasn’t immediately clear why France granted Durov a reprieve now.

Durov, who was born in Russia, said on his Telegram channel Monday that he was glad to be back home in Dubai, where the messaging app is now based. In 2021, both France and the United Arab Emirates granted Durov citizenship.

The tech entrepreneur denied after his arrest that his app refused to cooperate with police or that it was an “anarchic paradise” for criminals. On Monday, he further defended his app, writing that “when it comes to moderation, cooperation, and fighting crime, for years Telegram not only met but exceeded its legal obligations.”

Durov, his French lawyer and Telegram didn’t immediately have any further comment. 

Durov’s departure from France—even temporarily—is a new twist in one of the most extreme battles between tech companies and governments over how much responsibility companies and their executives should shoulder for illegal activity that occurs on their platforms. 

After Durov’s arrest, police officials and prosecutors in Europe said Telegram began cooperating extensively with law-enforcement requests for user information in criminal cases, in what they said was a stark turnaround. 

Telegram said at the time that the app had long cooperated in some cases but that European officials hadn’t been using the right email addresses to contact the app. 

Telegram, which Durov founded in Russia in 2013, has long branded itself as an antiestablishment app that would protect its users against government overreach and surveillance.

Durov has previously said his initial goal with Telegram was to avoid Russian surveillance, and the country for a time attempted to block the app there. In practice, however, Western intelligence officials say the app has for years cooperated at least somewhat in national-security and terrorism cases. Some also say they suspect it cooperates with Russia as well, something Durov and Telegram deny.

Write to Sam Schechner at Sam.Schechner@wsj.com