Police in France have uncovered a vast child abuse network operating through encrypted chats on Telegram, leading to the arrest of 55 men across 42 departments.
The arrests, made between Monday and Thursday morning, follow a 10-month investigation led by Ofmin, France’s specialised child protection unit.
The suspects – aged 25 to 75 – come from a wide range of backgrounds. They include a priest, a grandfather, a music teacher, a paramedic and others described as “good family men”.
Some victims under 10
All were linked to convicted paedophiles already in prison since last summer.
“These men aren’t just faceless names on a screen,” said Commissioner Quentin Bevan, who leads Ofmin’s operational unit.
“They are people who live among us – colleagues, neighbours, and even those entrusted with the care of children. And yet, many were found exchanging, distributing and viewing child pornography – some involving victims under the age of 10.”
Some of the men had already appeared in court. Others are under investigation and could face charges in the coming weeks.
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Paedophile 'platform of choice'
Investigators say some suspects shared disturbing messages, including talk of abusing children in their sleep. A few claimed they never acted on those messages.
One man denied wrongdoing but could not explain why he had bought lingerie for an eight-year-old girl he knew.
The operation has also put Telegram under scrutiny for its role in enabling abuse.
Commissioner Bevan described the app as a “paedophile hideout” and a “platform of choice” for offenders.
He said Telegram had made some improvements in cooperating with French authorities since the arrest of its founder Pavel Durov in Le Bourget last August. But he added that the platform still “barely fulfils its legal obligations”.
Durov, a 40-year-old Russian-born billionaire who became a French citizen in 2021, is under judicial supervision. He faces charges related to organised crime and failing to tackle illegal content.
French courts recently denied his request to travel to the United States, ruling the trip was neither “imperative” nor “justified”.
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'Broader crackdown'
The arrests are part of a broader crackdown launched last summer, when police caught several men abusing children and sharing videos of their crimes on Telegram.
Those early arrests led to a complex investigation involving thousands of intercepted messages and forensic analysis of disturbing images. That work resulted in this week’s arrests.
With platforms like Coco Chat shut down in 2024 over similar concerns, offenders increasingly used Telegram to avoid detection, investigators said.
But there will be no safe haven, French authorities say. Prosecutors in 42 jurisdictions are now involved and more court proceedings are expected.
