Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, was arrested at Bourget airport near Paris on Saturday evening, Reuters reported, citing unidentified French media sources. The Telegram CEO was travelling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 8 p.m. (18:00 GMT) on Saturday.
The investigation focused on Telegram’s lack of moderators and 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 and both the French Interior Ministry and police declined to comment. Meanwhile, Russia, which had previously attempted to ban Telegram, said it was taking steps to “clarify” Pavel Durov’s situation.
Who is Pavel Durov?
- Pavel Durov, a 39-year-old Russian-born entrepreneur, founded and owns the messaging app Telegram. This free platform competes with other social media services such as Facebook’s WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. Telegram aims to reach over a billion active monthly users next year.
- Telegram is highly influential in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics. It has become a key source of information about Russia’s war in Ukraine and is used extensively by politicians in both Moscow and Kyiv. Analysts have described the app as a “virtual battlefield” for the conflict.
- Durov, whose net worth is $15.5 billion according to Forbes, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to shut down opposition groups on his platform VKontakte, which he subsequently sold.
- In August 2021, Durov received French citizenship. He moved to Dubai in 2017 with his own residence and Telegram, and according to French media reports, he has also obtained citizenship of the United Arab Emirates. 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 demanding access to its users’ encrypted messages. The move had little impact on Telegram’s availability but led to mass protests in Moscow and criticism from NGOs.
- As Telegram has grown in popularity, several European countries, including France, have investigated the system for security issues and privacy violations. In May, EU technology regulators indicated they would look into Telegram as the system reached a usage threshold that could subject it to stricter requirements under new EU rules on online content.
- Durov said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson in April that he preferred freedom to following orders. His search for a location for his company took him to Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.
- In the same interview, Durov mentioned that he does not own any major assets such as real estate, jets or yachts other than money or bitcoins, which underlines his desire for personal freedom.
(With Reuters contributions)
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