Durov accuses French government of the same data violations it's pinning on Elon Musk's X

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has publicly accused the French government of committing the very privacy violations it is using to pressure Elon Musk's X platform. Durov's list is specific: illegally collecting personal data, processing it without adequate security, extracting data from automated systems, and violating the secrecy of electronic communications.

The accusation lands in a charged context. Durov himself was detained in France last year in connection with an investigation into Telegram's moderation practices, making his willingness to go on the offensive against French authorities notable. By framing the French state as a mirror image of the platform it is prosecuting, Durov is directly challenging the legitimacy of that regulatory posture.