The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has said that the arrest of Telegram's chief executive in France was made as part of an ongoing judicial investigation and is in no way a political decision.

Macron wrote in X that he saw false information about France after the arrest of Pavel Durov.

According to him, France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation and the spirit of entrepreneurship and will remain so.

"In a state of law, freedoms are preserved within a legal framework, both in social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights. It is up to the judiciary, in complete independence, to apply the law. The arrest of Telegram's chief executive yesterday on French soil was made as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide on this matter", he wrote.

Pavel Durov, the founder and chief executive of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested yesterday at an airport near Paris on Saturday evening, French media reported citing sources.

Durov, a billionaire with Russian and French citizenship, reportedly traveled from Azerbaijan on a private jet to France, where he was arrested at Bourget airport.

He is expected to appear in court on Sunday, August 25, for charges related to the well-known application Telegram.

French authorities have not commented on his arrest.

But one of the sources said that OFMIN, a French office for the prevention of violence against minors, had sought an arrest warrant for Durov after an initial investigation into suspected offenses such as fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime and the promotion of terrorism.

This Dubai-based platform, which boasts over 900 million users worldwide, was founded by Durov in 2013.