PANews reported on March 17 that Telegram founder Pavel Durov posted on his personal channel that he had returned to Dubai from France, where he had stayed for several months due to an investigation into criminal activities on Telegram. The investigation is still ongoing, but Durov said that "it feels good to be home."

He thanked the investigating judge for allowing him to return, and stressed that Telegram has long not only complied with legal requirements in content regulation, cooperation and combating crime, but also exceeded compliance standards. At the same time, he expressed gratitude to his global users who supported him, saying that Telegram's billion-level user base can overcome any challenges.