Telegram messaging app CEO Durov arrested: French media

STORY: Founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app Pavel Durov was reportedly arrested in France on Saturday.

French media, citing unnamed sources, say he was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris.

Durov was reportedly travelling aboard his private jet.

According to TV news network TF1, he was targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation.

News outlets TF1 and BFM both said the investigation was focused on the lack of moderators on Telegram.

Police apparently said that allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.

Reuters did not get a response for comment from Telegram, nor the French Interior Ministry and police.

Russian-born Durov founded Telegram with his brother in 2013.

With close to one billion users, Telegram is influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union.

Its increasing popularity, however, has prompted scrutiny from several countries in Europe, including France, on security and data breach concerns.

And since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered and sometimes graphic and misleading content from both sides about the war.

Durov, who Forbes estimates has a fortune worth $15.5 billion, said some governments had sought to pressure him but the app should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics.”

Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after the app refused to comply with a court order to grant state security services access to its users’ encrypted messages.

Telegram – which allows users to evade official scrutiny – has also become one of the few places where Russians can access independent news about the war after the Kremlin increased curbs on independent media in recent years.