Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, French local media reported, citing unnamed sources.
He said the investigation was focused on the lack of moderators on Telegram, and police believed this situation allowed criminal activity to continue unabated on the messaging app.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French interior ministry and police did not comment. Russia’s foreign ministry said it was taking steps to “clarify” the situation and questioned whether Western non-governmental organisations (NGOs) would seek his release.
What is known about Durov and Telegram:
* Russian-born Durov, 39, is the founder and owner of messaging app Telegram, a free-to-use platform that competes with other social media platforms such as Facebook’s WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. The platform aims to surpass one billion active monthly users within a year.
* Telegram is influential in Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet republics. It has become a key source of information about Russia’s war in Ukraine, used heavily by authorities in both Moscow and Kiev. Some analysts call the app “a virtual battlefield” for the war.
* Durov, whose wealth was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after he refused to bow to government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VKontakte social media platform, which he sold.
* Russian and French media say Durov became a French citizen in 2021. He moved himself and Telegram to Dubai in 2017.
* “I would rather be independent than take orders from someone,” Durov told American journalist Tucker Carlson in April, speaking about leaving Russia and looking for a location for his company, which included working in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.
* In the same interview, Durov said that, other than money or bitcoin, he did not own any major assets such as real estate, jets or yachts, because he wanted to be independent.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
