PAvel Durov, founder and CEO of encrypted messaging service Telegram, made headlines earlier this year when he said Telegram had reached 900 million users and was close to profitability.
Now, 39-year-old Durov is in the news for another reason. French media reported that he was arrested at Paris’ Le Bourget airport on Saturday, August 24. According to French media, investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, which is affiliated with French customs, told Durov that he was being taken into police custody. The arrest was reportedly based on allegations related to the distribution of illegal material through the service.
“Telegram complies with EU laws, including the Digital Services Act – its moderation is in line with industry standards and is constantly improving. Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,” Telegram wrote in an emailed statement to TIME. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office and the French Justice Ministry did not respond to TIME’s request for comment.
Durov has been a mogul in the app development industry for years. In a rare interview with In April 2024, conservative US political commentator Tucker Carlson discussed how important freedom of speech is to him and why he founded Telegram.
“For me, it was never about getting rich. For me, everything in life was about getting free,” Durov told Carlson during their meeting in Dubai. “And as far as possible, my life’s work was to enable others to be free too. And I hoped that through the platforms we created, they could express their freedom.”
Public interest in Durov is probably greater than ever before. Here you can find out everything you need to know about the business magnate.
Pavel Durov founded the encrypted messaging service Telegram and the social media platform VK
According to CNN, Durov was dubbed the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia” after co-founding the social media platform VKontakte in his home country in 2006.
In 2014, Durov claimed he had been fired from VK. VK itself has since stated that it acted on the basis of an earlier letter of resignation from Durov, which had not been revoked.
Durov fled Russia in 2014 and sold his stake in VK after reportedly refusing to cooperate with Russian authorities and hand over encrypted data of the app’s users.
“It was a little painful because my first company was my baby,” Durov told Carlson in his 2024 interview. “But at the same time, I realized that I preferred to be free; I didn’t want to take orders from anyone.”
In 2013, Durov founded Telegram with his brother Nikolai Durov, which has grown in popularity ever since. According to Telegram, the messaging app’s focus is “on speed and security. Telegram is like a combination of SMS and email – and can meet all your personal or business messaging needs.”
During his exile, Durov focused intensely on growing Telegram. “I am very happy at the moment because I don’t own any property anywhere,” Durov told the New York Just in 2014. “I consider myself a legal citizen of the world.”
Telegram was banned in Russia from 2018 to 2020 after it refused to provide the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) with encryption keys to access users’ messaging data.
What nationality is Pavel Durov?
Durov was born in 1984 in what was then the Soviet Union. When he was four years old, his family moved to Italy, but he returned to Russia after his father got a job at St. Petersburg University, where he eventually studied himself.
Durov received French citizenship in 2021 but lives in Dubai. He reportedly also holds United Arab Emirates citizenship.
What is Pavel Durov’s net worth?
Accordingly Forbes, As of August 25, Durov’s net worth was estimated at $15.5 billion. Durov is currently ranked 120th Forbes’ List of billionaires.
Does Pavel Durov have a wife and children?
Durov is unmarried but reportedly has five children with his ex-girlfriends, according to his Forbes Profile. On July 29, Durov said in a post on Telegram that he had over “100 biological children” through sperm donation.
