Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Arrested in France Amid Probe into Platform’s Role in Criminal Activity
Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, was reportedly arrested at Bourget airport near Paris on Saturday evening, as reported by TF1 TV and BFM TV, based on unnamed sources.
Durov, who was on his private jet, was allegedly detained under an arrest warrant issued in France amid a preliminary police investigation, according to TF1’s website.
The investigation reportedly centers around Telegram’s lack of moderators, with police suggesting this oversight has allowed criminal activities to thrive on the platform, as per reports from TF1 and BFM.
With nearly a billion users, the encrypted Telegram app is particularly influential in regions like Russia, Ukraine, and former Soviet republics. It’s recognized as a major social media platform, ranking alongside Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat.
Telegram has yet to respond to Reuters’ request for comment, while the French Interior Ministry and police have also declined to comment.
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Durov, who was born in Russia, co-founded Telegram with his brother in 2013. He left Russia in 2014 after resisting government demands to shut down opposition groups on his VKontakte social media platform, which he later sold.
“I prefer freedom over obedience,” Durov told U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson in April, reflecting on his departure from Russia and his subsequent search for a new home for his company, which included stints in Berlin, London, Singapore, and San Francisco.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become a primary source of unfiltered, and sometimes graphic or misleading, content related to the war and the surrounding political climate.
The platform has emerged as what some analysts describe as a ‘virtual battlefield’ for the conflict, heavily utilized by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, his officials, and the Russian government alike.
Telegram, known for allowing users to bypass official censorship, has also become one of the few remaining channels for Russians to access independent news about the war, especially after the Kremlin tightened its grip on independent media following the invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian foreign ministry stated that its embassy in Paris is working to clarify the situation concerning Durov and urged Western NGOs to advocate for his release.
In 2018, Russia began blocking Telegram after the app refused a court order to grant state security services access to its encrypted messages, an action that disrupted many third-party services but had little impact on Telegram’s availability in Russia. The ban led to mass protests in Moscow and widespread criticism from NGOs.
‘NEUTRAL PLATFORM’
TF1 reported that Durov, who is based in Dubai and has a fortune estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, was traveling from Azerbaijan and was arrested around 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT).
Durov has stated that while some governments have tried to pressure him, Telegram should remain a “neutral platform” and not be a “player in geopolitics.”
However, the platform’s growing popularity has attracted scrutiny from various European countries, including France, over concerns related to security and data breaches.
Russia’s representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, along with several other Russian politicians, were quick to accuse France of acting like a dictatorship—a criticism similar to what Moscow faced when it made demands on Durov in 2014 and attempted to ban Telegram in 2018.
“Some naive people still don’t realize that if they play a visible role in the international information space, it is not safe for them to visit countries that are becoming increasingly totalitarian,” Ulyanov wrote on X.
Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly Twitter), commented on the reports of Durov’s detention, saying, “It’s 2030 in Europe, and you’re being executed for liking a meme.”
In response, several Russian bloggers have called for protests at French embassies worldwide, scheduled for Sunday, August 25, at noon.
Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Arrested in France Amid Probe into Platform’s Role in Criminal Activity
