STORY: The founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, was reportedly arrested in France on Saturday.
French media, citing anonymous sources, report that he was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris.
Durov reportedly traveled aboard his private jet.
According to the television news channel TF1, an arrest warrant had been issued against him in France as part of preliminary police investigations.
News channels TF1 and BFM both said the investigation focused on Telegram’s lack of moderators.
Police apparently explained that this allowed criminal activities to continue unhindered via the messaging app.
Reuters did not receive a response to its statement from Telegram, the French Interior Ministry or the police.
Russian-born Durov founded Telegram in 2013 together with his brother.
With nearly a billion users, Telegram is influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union.
However, its increasing popularity has led several countries in Europe, including France, to keep a close eye on the app due to security concerns and concerns about data breaches.
And since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered and sometimes graphic and misleading content from both sides about the war.
Durov, whose net worth is estimated at $15.5 billion by Forbes, said some governments have tried to pressure him, but the app should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics.”
Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after the app refused to comply with a court order giving state security services access to its users’ encrypted messages.
Telegram – which allows its users to evade official control – has also become one of the few places where Russians can access independent news about the war after the Kremlin tightened restrictions on independent media in recent years.
