Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening. French media outlets TF1 and BFM TV, citing unnamed sources, reported that Durov was detained upon his arrival in France on a private jet. Police added that the lack of moderators on Telegram was the main focus of their investigation and that they believed this circumstance allowed illegal activities to continue on the chat platform unchecked.
Remarks from Telegram were not immediately available after Reuters reached out to them. Both the French police and Interior Ministry remained silent. In an attempt to "clarify" the situation, the Russian Foreign Ministry asked whether non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the West would push for his release.
About Pavel Durov Born in Russia, 39-year-old Durov is the founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, which faces competition from Facebook's WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat. In less than a year, the platform hopes to reach one billion monthly active users. Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union's republics all rely on Telegram.
It is now a vital source of information about Russia's conflict in Ukraine, greatly utilised by officials in both Moscow and Kyiv. "A virtual battlefield" for the war, as some analysts have dubbed the program. Forbes estimated Durov's wealth to be $15.
5 billion. In 2014, he fled Russia when he refused to comply with orders to close opposition communities on his sold social media platform, VKontakte. According to French and Russian media, Durov obtained French citizenship in 2021.
In 2017, he relocated to Dubai with Telegram. When asked about his decision to leave Russia and look for a new home for his company, which included stays in Berlin, London, Singapore, and San Francisco, US journalist Tucker Carlson stated in April that "I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone.".
