Pavel Durov Blasts Police Raids on X Offices in Paris: A Crypto Freedom Fight Erupts

French authorities storm X's Paris headquarters—Telegram's Pavel Durov fires back in a fiery defense of digital sovereignty. This isn't just about office space; it's a frontline in the war for decentralized communication.

The Raid Heard 'Round the Crypto World

Police descended on X's French operations this week, seizing equipment and documents in what officials call a routine regulatory sweep. Durov's response? A blistering public statement framing the move as government overreach—a direct assault on tech innovation and free speech.

Durov's Decentralized Doctrine

The Telegram founder didn't hold back. He painted the raids as symptomatic of a broader clash: nimble, borderless tech platforms versus lumbering state bureaucracies. His argument echoes crypto's core ethos—systems that bypass traditional gatekeepers shouldn't kneel to their heavy-handed tactics.

Why Crypto Should Care

This isn't isolated drama. When authorities target tech firms, they're testing boundaries that directly impact decentralized networks. Every server seized, every data request enforced, sets precedent for how governments might handle crypto exchanges, DeFi protocols, or even NFT platforms. Durov's defiance is a rallying cry for the entire digital asset ecosystem.

The Finance Jab

Meanwhile, traditional finance watches from the sidelines—still trying to tokenize paper bonds while actual digital revolutions play out in real-time. Their compliance departments would've folded at the first subpoena.

The Verdict

Durov's outburst isn't mere corporate PR. It's a strategic salvo in the battle for digital autonomy. As crypto continues challenging legacy systems, expect more collisions between innovators and regulators. The Paris raids just turned up the heat.

Durov accuses France of suppressing free social media

Telegram’s owner and chief executive, Pavel Durov, has spoken in defense of social media platforms that provide users with a level of free expression.

Durov’s comments on X were prompted by a French law enforcement raid on the local office of the social networking service X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Russian-born tech entrepreneur lashed out at France for going after the microblogging platform, his popular messenger, and the short-form video app TikTok, which “give people some degree of freedom,” as he put it.

“Don’t be mistaken: this is not a free country,” Durov insisted in a tweet reprehending the European nation, which has targeted him and his company, too.

French police is currently raiding X’s office in Paris. France is the only country in the world that is criminally persecuting all social networks that give people some degree of freedom (Telegram, X, TikTok…). Don’t be mistaken: this is not a free country.

— Pavel Durov (@durov) February 3, 2026

Durov was reacting to the news that the French headquarters of X have been searched by prosecutors and police officers, aided by representatives of Europol.

The operation, announced by the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, is part of a probe over a number of alleged offenses, including the spreading of far-right content and sexual abuse material.

French authorities blame some of the crimes on the AI-powered chatbot Grok, developed by another of Musk’s companies, xAI, which functions on the X platform.

Investigators say a “spicy mode” of the assistant is responsible for producing tens of thousands of sexualized deepfake images of women and children.

Meanwhile, the prosecutors summoned the American billionaire and the former CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino, for what they described as “voluntary interviews” on April 20.

Other suspected crimes include “fraudulent extraction of data,” falsification” and “operating of an illegal online platform,” all committed by an “organized group,” as well as “denial of crimes against humanity.”

In a comment to his original post, Pavel Durov added:

“Weaponising child protection to legitimise censorship and mass surveillance is disgusting. These people will stop at nothing.”

Durov and Musk find themselves in the same French boat

Pavel Durov has faced his own set of similar accusations in France, including complicity in criminal activity by managing a messaging app that allowed the sharing of illegal content, such as child pornography, and facilitated illicit transactions.

The 41-year-old Russian, who also holds a French passport, was arrested in August 2024 and spent time in detention. While he was eventually released, Durov was questioned again last summer as part of the ongoing investigation.

He has repeatedly rejected the allegations, maintaining Telegram was never intended for illicit use, while at the same time acknowledging growing criminal activity on the platform and agreeing to strengthen moderation.

In an interview for Lex Fridman’s podcast last fall, Durov revealed that Paris pushed him to shut down or censor Telegram channels during the presidential elections in Romania and Moldova, in exchange for favorable treatment in his legal case in France.

Besides their defense of online freedom, for which both may have found themselves pressed by the French state, Pavel Durov and Elon Musk seem to be on the same page on other issues as well.

Privacy is one such example. Durov’s comments on the Paris raids against X come just days after Elon Musk backed his assessment that WhatsApp is not a secure messenger. The owner of the latter, Meta Platforms, was sued by users challenging the claim that its chats are private.

Join a premium crypto trading community free for 30 days - normally $100/mo.