Last Saturday, Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram, was detained at a Paris airport on charges related to the criminal use of his messaging app, including terrorism, child pornography, drug trafficking, money laundering, and fraud.
The 39-year-old billionaire holds citizenship of several countries, including France. On Wednesday, he was released under judicial supervision, banned from leaving France, and ordered to pay a 5 million euro ($5.5 million) bail.
"I was completely unaware of Mr. Durov's arrival in France… It is not true that I invited anyone... I was not supposed to meet with Mr. Durov either at the end of last week or in the following days. I was not aware that he was going to arrive in France," Macron told a joint press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.