Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested and taken into custody late Saturday evening shortly after a private jet landed at Le Bourget airport outside Paris, three sources told Reuters.
The arrest of the 39-year-old technology billionaire prompted a warning from Moscow to Paris on Sunday that he must be granted his rights. X owner Elon Musk also criticized the move, saying that freedom of expression in Europe was in danger.
There was no official confirmation of the arrest from France, but two French police sources and a Russian source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Durov was arrested shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a private jet from Azerbaijan.
One of the two French police sources said that before the plane arrived, the police noticed that Durov was on the passenger list and wanted to arrest him because there was an arrest warrant out for him in France.
“Telegram complies with EU laws, including the Digital Services Act – its moderation is in line with industry standards and is constantly being improved,” Telegram said in a statement on the arrest.
The arrest of @Durov is an attack on the fundamental human rights of freedom of expression and association. I am surprised and deeply saddened that Macron has gone so far as to take hostages to gain access to private communications. This is humiliating not only France but the whole world.
“Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,” it said. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform.”
Durov, who holds both French and UAE citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation. He is accused of allowing a wide range of crimes to take place due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police, according to a third source in French police.
A cybersecurity unit of the armed forces and the French police’s national anti-fraud unit are leading the investigation, the source said. The investigating judge specializes in organized crime.
“We are waiting for a quick resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all,” the company said.
The French Interior Ministry, police and the Paris prosecutor’s office declined to comment.
Russian politician Maria Butina, who spent 15 months in a US prison for acting as an unregistered Russian agent, said Durov was “a political prisoner – a victim of a witch hunt by the West.” Durov’s arrest made headlines in Russia.
Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to close opposition communities on his now-sold social media platform VK.
The encrypted application, with almost a billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It is considered one of the most important social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat.
“Virtual Battlefield”
Durov, whose net worth is estimated at $15.5 billion by Forbes, said in April that while the app had tried to put pressure on him, it should remain a neutral platform and not be a “player in geopolitics.”
The idea for an encrypted messaging app came to him when he was under pressure in Russia. His younger brother Nikolai developed the encryption.
“I would rather be free than take orders from anyone,” Durov said in April about his departure from Russia and the search for a location for his company, which included stops in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.
After Russia began invading Ukraine in February 2022, Telegram became the primary source of unfiltered – and sometimes graphic and misleading – content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict.
Some analysts call the platform a “virtual battlefield” of war, used extensively by both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his officials, as well as the Russian government.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had sent a message to Paris demanding access to Durov, even though he is a French citizen.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Durov made a mistake when he fled Russia, believing he would never have to cooperate with intelligence services abroad.
Medvedev, who regularly criticizes and insults the West on Telegram, said Durov wanted to be a “brilliant ‘man of the world’ who lives wonderfully even without a homeland.”
Encrypted messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp have become a huge source of misinformation and disinformation in the war between Israel and Hamas. Misinformation experts say that’s because they’re difficult to moderate.
“He miscalculated,” said Medvedev. “For all our common enemies, he is Russian – and therefore unpredictable and dangerous.”
Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after the app refused to comply with a court order giving the state security service access to its users’ encrypted messages.
The action disrupted many third-party services but had little impact on Telegram’s availability there. However, the ban sparked mass protests in Moscow and criticism from NGOs.
Platform under scrutiny
Telegram states that it is “committed to protecting users’ privacy and human rights such as freedom of expression and assembly.”
Durov had previously accused US law enforcement agencies such as the FBI of trying to build a backdoor into the platform. The FBI has not commented on these allegations.
However, Telegram’s increasing popularity has led to skepticism in several European countries, including France, over security concerns and concerns about data breaches.
Musk, the billionaire owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, said after reports of Durov’s imprisonment: “It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re going to be executed for liking a meme.”
In front of the French embassy in Moscow, a lone demonstrator held a sign reading: “Liberté pour Pavel Durov”.
