Russian politicians hit back after Telegram boss Pavel Durov was arrested in France

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Russian politicians have responded to reports of the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France for failing to adequately curb criminal activities on his messaging platform.

The Russian-born billionaire was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget airport on Saturday evening as he arrived in the country from Azerbaijan on his private jet, French broadcaster TF1 and AFP news agency reported.

Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Vladislav Davankov said he had called on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to secure Durov’s release. “The arrest of [Durov] “could have political motives and be a means of obtaining the personal data of Telegram users. We cannot allow that,” he said on his Telegram channel.

Andrey Klishas, ​​​​chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Committee on Constitutional Law, described France’s actions as a “fight for freedom of speech and European values” in a sarcastic post on his Telegram channel.

An arrest warrant was issued for Durov in France after the country's authorities opened a preliminary investigation to determine whether a lack of moderation on the Dubai-based platform had facilitated illegal activities including terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud and child abuse, reports said. He is due to appear in court on Sunday.

According to Interfax, the Russian embassy in France said it had requested consular access to Durov, although no such request had been received from his representatives.

A representative for Telegram and Durov declined to comment.

Founded in 2013, Telegram has grown in prominence in recent years, becoming a key communications tool for global politicians and serving as a resource for messaging and organizing during geopolitical crises such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict. With nearly a billion users, it is now one of the most popular messaging apps, rivaling Meta's WhatsApp.

Durov's positioning of Telegram as a privacy-focused and censorship-resistant messaging platform has drawn criticism, with researchers warning that the platform has become a haven for criminals and hackers who openly offer illegal services without consequences.

His detention is likely to further fuel the global debate over the extent to which social media platforms and messaging apps should prioritize free expression or more tightly control the content they host, and whether executives should be held personally liable for failures.

The news sparked an immediate backlash from free speech advocates. “It's 2030 in Europe and you're going to be executed for liking a meme,” Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and a self-proclaimed free speech champion, wrote on his social media page on Saturday. Musk has clashed with EU and UK leaders over the perceived lax moderation of his platform, which police and analysts say was used alongside Telegram to organize and fuel far-right unrest in Southport, Britain.

Durov, known for always wearing black and following extreme health trends, was previously hailed as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia” after co-founding the country's most popular social network, VKontakte, in his hometown of St. Petersburg in 2007.

However, he fled Russia in 2014 and sold the company after refusing to comply with Russian intelligence demands and share the data of certain Ukrainian VK users, as he himself said. A fortune in cryptocurrencies then allowed him to travel and fund Telegram before settling in Dubai, which he describes as “neutral.” He currently holds dual French-Emirati citizenship. Forbes estimates his net worth at $15.5 billion.

Although Durov was born in Russia, he insists he has severed ties with the country, while critics claim the Kremlin may still have ties to or influence over Telegram.

“He thought his biggest problems were in Russia and left the country. He wanted to be a brilliant 'citizen of the world' who could live well without a homeland,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now a prominent right-wing commentator, wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday. “He miscalculated. For our common enemies, he is still Russian – unpredictable and dangerous, of a different origin,” he said.

In an interview with the Financial Times earlier this year, his first since 2017, Durov defended his “hands off” approach to content moderation, saying that “user feedback is usually: please don't start censoring any content.”

Over the years, however, he has occasionally bowed to public pressure as regulators circled him and dismantled groups linked to ISIS in 2019, as well as extremist and white supremacist groups involved in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Earlier this year, a Spanish court ordered the app to be blocked after investigations into the distribution of illegal, copyrighted content. The ban has since been lifted.

Telegram's policies prohibit terrorist channels and state that spam and scams, illegal pornography, or the promotion of violence are not allowed on “publicly viewable Telegram channels.”