Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov
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Pavel DurovThe Russian billionaire, founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet on Saturday night and taken into custody, a police source said.
The arrest of the 39-year-old tech billionaire prompted Moscow to warn Paris on Sunday that it should respect his rights and criticize X boss Elon Musk for saying freedom of speech in Europe was under attack.
There has been no official confirmation from France of the arrest, while French and Russian media also reported that Durov was arrested shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a private jet from Azerbaijan.
French broadcaster BFM and TF1 said Durov, who holds dual French and UAE citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into possible criminal activity due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police. Reuters’ police source could not confirm that.
Telegram and senior executives did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The French Interior Ministry, police and the Paris prosecutor’s office had no comment. Durov could face charges as early as Sunday, according to French media.
Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his social media platform VK, which he has since sold.
Encrypted application, with nearly one billion usersIt is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet republics. It ranks as one of the largest social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat.
Telegram
Durov, who Forbes estimates is worth $15.5 billion, said in April that some governments had sought to pressure him but that the app should remain a “neutral platform” and not “a factor in geopolitics”.
Durov came up with the idea of an encrypted messaging app as a way to communicate while he was under pressure in Russia. His younger brother, Nikolai, designed the encryption.
“I would rather be free than take orders from anyone,” Durov said in April of his departure from Russia and search for a base for his company, which included stints in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.
After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram became a major source of uncensored — and sometimes misleading and shocking — content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict.
The platform has become what some analysts have called a ‘virtual battlefield’ for the war, used extensively by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his officials, as well as the Russian government.
The Russian foreign ministry said it had sent a note to Paris requesting access to Durov, although it said he had French citizenship.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Durov was wrong to flee Russia and thought he would never have to cooperate with foreign security agencies.
Medvedev, who regularly uses Telegram to criticize and insult the West, said Durov wanted to become “a ‘great man of the world’ who lives wonderfully without the Fatherland”.
“He miscalculated,” Medvedev said. “For all our common enemies today, he is Russian – and therefore unpredictable and dangerous.”
Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after the app refused to comply with a court order to give state security agencies access to users’ encrypted messages.
The move disrupted many third-party services, but has small effect about Telegram’s availability there. However, the ban has caused big protest in moscow and criticism from NGOs.
‘Platform neutrality’
According to French and Russian media, Durov, who lives in Dubai, traveled from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 8pm (1800 GMT).
Telegram said it is “committed to protecting users’ privacy and human rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.”
Durov has previously accused US law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of trying to plant a backdoor into the platform. The FBI has not yet commented on those allegations.
However, Telegram’s growing popularity has drawn scrutiny from some countries in Europe. including Franceon security issues and data breaches.
Musk, the billionaire owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, said after news of Durov’s arrest: “It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re going to be executed for liking a meme.”
Outside the French embassy in Moscow, a lone protester held up a sign that read: “Liberty pour Pavel Durov”.
