French President Emmanuel Macron has defended his decision to grant special fast-track citizenship to Pavel Durov, the CEO of the popular messaging app Telegram. Durov is currently facing preliminary charges in France related to alleged criminal activity on his platform.
Macron clarified that he was unaware of Durov's presence in France before his unexpected arrest over the weekend and had no scheduled meeting with him. Durov was released on a 5 million euro bail but is prohibited from leaving France and must report to a police station twice a week as the investigation continues.
