Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov was arrested at an airport a few miles north of Paris on Saturday night, according to French news outlets BFMTV and TF1. Both outlets reported that the billionaire executive, who arrived from Azerbaijan on a private jet, was the subject of a French search warrant over the app’s lack of administrators, alleged use for drug trafficking, money laundering and the dissemination of child abuse content. Material.
So far, neither French authorities nor Durov have issued a statement regarding the arrest. However, Telegram commented on X (formerly Twitter) that “Durov has nothing to hide,” and Russian officials reportedly denounced the detention as an attack on free speech. X boss Elon Musk also posted about moderation and free speech after the report.
A post on the Telegram The post continued, “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owners are responsible for the abuse of that platform.”
The company added that it was “awaiting a speedy resolution.”
Durov was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and was a naturalized citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates. Before Telegram, the tech executive co-founded VKontakte, the Russian version of Facebook. Durov reportedly sold his stake in VKontakte and left Russia in 2014 due to state censorship requirements. Telegram is currently based in Dubai, and Durov said in April that the app had nearly 1 billion users.
According to Forbes, Durov, 39, is worth an estimated $15.5 billion. In July, the tech executive said he was a sperm donor, had “over 100 biological children” and planned to “open source” [his] DNA.
Telegram has reportedly censored content in the past, including Hamas channels and “public calls for violence” related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. However, governments often clash over Telegram’s stance on content moderation and privacy, as well as its use by protesters. Russia tried to block Telegram in 2018 after it refused to hand over encryption keys. Cuba blocked the app in 2021 amid protests over the government’s Covid-19 response, and two years later a Spanish court briefly blocked access to Telegram following a copyright complaint by a local media group.
