Telegram billionaire Pavel Durov was arrested as part of an investigation into criminal activity on Telegram, French media reported.
Telegram is being investigated for enabling criminal activity. The platform is unable to prevent the spread of criminal content due to the lack of moderators. Yau Ming Low / Alamy Stock Photo, AOP
Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested at Bourget airport near Paris on Saturday night, several French media reported, citing unnamed sources.
An arrest warrant had been issued for Durov in France as part of the preliminary police investigation. At the time of his arrest, Durov had just arrived on his private plane from Azerbaijan.
The French media TF1 and BFM report that the police are investigating criminal activity on Telegram, which the messaging application enables through the intervention of moderators.
Telegram, the French Interior Ministry and the French police have not commented on the arrest.
Russian state media Tass reported that the Russian Embassy in France “takes immediate action” to clarify Durov’s situation. According to Tass, Durov has not asked the embassy for help, but it acts “proactively and immediately”.
The story continues after the picture.
Durov founded Telegram as a side project of VKontakte with his brother. Aleksey Zotov / Alamy Stock Photo, AOP
Smoked out of “Russian Facebook”
Durov was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), but he spent a large part of his childhood in Italy.
Forbes estimates the value of Durov’s assets at around 13.8 billion euros. He created the foundation for his massive fortune by founding the VKontakte social platform, also called Russia’s Facebook, in 2006.
The Russian government fired Durov as CEO of Vkontakte in 2014 after he refused to hand over to the Russian security service the FSB information about the administrators of the Ukrainian Euromaidan group. Durov also refused to close the anti-corruption group.
Today, VKontakte is owned by the state-run Sogaz Group. Sogaz’s co-owner is Yuri Kovalchuk, who is close to Vladimir Putin.
Durov founded Telegram together with his brother Nikolai Durov in 2013 as a side project of VKontakte. Telegram was taken over by the Durovs, and today it has 900 million active users.
Durov left Russia after quitting VKontakte in 2014 and bought himself the nationality of Saint Kitts and Nevis. In 2021, Durov received French citizenship. In addition, he also holds the citizenship of the United Arab Emirates.
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