(Reuters) – Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV and BFM TV reported, citing unnamed sources.
Both TF1 and BFM said the investigation focused on the lack of moderators on Telegram and that police believed this situation allowed criminal activity on the messaging app to continue unhindered.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French interior ministry and police did not comment. Russia, which has tried to ban Telegram in the past, said it was taking steps to “clarify” Durov’s situation.
What is known about Durov and Telegram:
* Durov, 39, a native of Russia, is the founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, a free platform that competes with other social media platforms such as Facebook’s (NASDAQ:) WhatsApp or Instagram, TikTok and Wechat. The platform aims to exceed the one billion active monthly users mark within a year.
* Telegram is highly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. The app has become a major source of information about Russia’s war in Ukraine and is used extensively by both Moscow and Kyiv government officials. Some analysts call the app the “virtual battlefield” of the war.
* Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his social media platform VKontakte, which he subsequently sold.
* Durov became a French citizen in August 2021. He moved to Dubai in 2017 using Telegram and also obtained citizenship of the United Arab Emirates, according to French media. According to media reports, he is also a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis, an island nation in the Caribbean.
* Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after the app refused to comply with a court order granting the state security service access to its users’ encrypted messages. The measure had little impact on Telegram’s availability in Russia, but sparked mass protests in Moscow and criticism from NGOs.
* However, Telegram’s increasing popularity has led to security concerns and privacy breaches in several European countries, including France. In May, EU technology regulators said they were in contact with Telegram as the company was close to violating a key usage criterion that could lead to Telegram being subject to stricter requirements under landmark EU legislation on online content.
* “I would rather be free than take orders from anyone,” Durov told US journalist Tucker Carlson 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.
