French President Emmanuel Macron has offered Telegram CEO Pavel Durov to move the company's headquarters to Paris, reports the "Wall Street Journal", citing anonymous sources, quoted by News.bg.
Macron proposed to Durov during a private lunch in 2018, but he declined.
The sources also reveal that in 2017, French spies organized a joint operation with the United Arab Emirates, codenamed "Purple Music", in which they hacked Durov's mobile phone. The operation was carried out because French security authorities feared that the "Islamic State" uses Telegram to recruit new operatives.
However, both France and the UAE have granted citizenship to Durov in 2021.
The Russian-born billionaire was arrested in France at the weekend as part of an investigation into crimes related to images of child sexual abuse, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the social network. The court in Paris raised 12 charges against Durov.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is known to be an avid Telegram user, assured that the arrest was "in no way a political decision".
After Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram became a major source of unfiltered, sometimes graphic and misleading content about the war and politics surrounding the conflict.