Pavel Durov Escapes French Bureaucracy: The 14-Day Dubai Dash They Didn’t Want You To See!

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One might have reasonably assumed that the founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, a chap whose chief hobby seems to be sidestepping meddlesome governments and producing encrypted messaging apps, would have no more trouble leaving France than a ferret escaping a cardboard box. But alas! The forces of red tape—France’s best-loved export after Camembert—had other designs on our man’s travel plans.

Durov, the debonair tech baron, has now, through judicious deployment of legal wrangling and persistence that would make a woodpecker envious, won the court’s nod to desert the Gallic utopia for up to 14 days. Destination: Dubai, land of shiny skyscrapers, bottomless brunches, and Telegram HQ.

Now, you might wonder, why all the palaver? Well, back in May, Monsieur Durov found his travel request stamped DENIED (all caps, one assumes, for extra French flourish) by the local powers. He had rather hoped to wing his way to the Oslo Freedom Forum and deliver a keynote speech, dazzling human rights types with his wit and wisdom. Instead, he Zoomed in—because nothing says “freedom” like a virtual background with the Eiffel Tower.

This isn’t Durov’s first jailbreak, either. The French previously let him off-leash for a jaunt to Dubai in March, presumably after he’d pinky-sworn to return in time for croissants. The Open Network Society (TON) broke out the Champagne (or cheap Prosecco, budgets being what they are) and declared this sortie a mighty blow for freedom of speech. Liberté, égalité, and all that. 🥳

Meanwhile, our hero continues to make the rounds, discoursing on his ongoing legal tango across the EU, accompanied by free speech crusaders, privacy devotees, and crypto zealots—think of it as the world’s grumpiest book club, watching closely for signs of European liberty’s last gasp.

Durov Throws a Verbal Croissant at French Bureaucracy 🥐

In a conversation with the local news outlet Le Point, Durov did not mince his words—one suspects he’d run out of mince. He warned that France was sliding towards societal collapse, shaking his head in the general direction of President Emmanuel Macron. “The fellow isn’t making the right choices,” Durov declared, apparently quite vexed that the spirit of Napoleon now manifested in overregulation and pro-censorship shenanigans.

According to Durov, the air in Paris is so thick with bureaucracy that creative types and tech brainiacs are fleeing, suitcases brimming with innovation (and perhaps a baguette or two), headed to countries that let you build big things without having to file Form 14B-3/C in triplicate.

As he tells it, when governments dawdle on reforms, they earn themselves a ticket to “catastrophic societal collapse”—which sounds frightfully inconvenient for everyone involved. And, as Durov solemnly hints, once the state’s social tinkering seeps into the national marrow, it might take decades—generations!—to undo the bureaucratic mischief. That’s a lot of committee meetings. 😬

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2025-06-19 19:50