Telegram messaging app CEO Durov reportedly arrested in France

Pavel DurovThe Russian-born billionaire, founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested and detained shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on a private jet on Saturday evening, police sources said.

The arrest of the 39-year-old tech billionaire prompted warnings from Moscow and Paris on Sunday to restore his rights, while Tesla X boss Elon Musk also criticised it, saying free speech in Europe was under attack.

France has not officially confirmed the arrest, but French and Russian media have also reported it, saying Durov was arrested shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport from Azerbaijan on a private plane.

French media BFM and TF1 said Durov, a dual French-UAE citizen, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation that showed possible criminal activity due to a lack of administrators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police. Police sources contacted by Reuters could not confirm this.

Telegram and senior Telegram executives did not respond to multiple requests for comment. France’s interior ministry, police and the Paris prosecutor’s office declined to comment. French media reported that Durov could face indictment on Sunday.

Telegram is based in Dubai and was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on the VK social media platform, which he has now sold.

Encrypted applications, close 1 billion userswhich is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet republics, and is one of the main social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat.

Durov, whose fortune Forbes estimates is $15.5 billion, said in April that some governments had tried to pressure him but that the app should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “geopolitical player.”

Durov came up with the idea for an encrypted messaging app as a way to communicate when he was under pressure in Russia. His brother Nikolay designed the encryption technology.

“I would rather be free than take orders from anyone,” Durov said in April. He left Russia to look for a headquarters for his company and worked in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Telegram became a major source of unfiltered (and sometimes explicit and misleading) content from both sides about the war and the politics of the conflict.

The platform has become what some analysts call a “virtual battlefield” of war, used extensively by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his officials, as well as the Russian government.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had sent a note to the French government asking for access to Durov, but the Russian Foreign Ministry said Durov has French citizenship.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Durov had misjudged by fleeing Russia and thinking he would never have to cooperate with foreign security services.

Medvedev, who frequently uses Telegram to criticize and insult the West, said Durov wanted to be an “outstanding ‘world man’ who can live a wonderful life without a motherland.”

“He miscalculated. For all our common enemies now, he is Russian – therefore unpredictable and very dangerous,” Medvedev said.

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

This action caused disruption to many third-party services, but Not much effect Telegram’s availability there. However, the ban triggered Massive protests in Moscow and criticism from non-governmental organizations.

Durov, who is from Azerbaijan and lives in Dubai, was arrested at around 8 pm (18:00 GMT), according to French and Russian media reports.

Telegram said it is “committed to protecting user privacy and human rights such as freedom of expression and assembly.”

Durov has previously accused the FBI and other law enforcement agencies of trying to install backdoors on the platform. The FBI has not yet commented on the allegations.

However, Telegram’s growing popularity has also triggered scrutiny in several European countries. Including Franceconcerns about security and data breaches.

Musk, the billionaire owner of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, said after reports of Durov’s detention: “It’s 2030 in Europe and you can be executed for liking a meme.”

Outside the French Embassy in Moscow, a lone protester held a sign that read: “Freedom for Pavel Durov.”