Founder of Telegram app arrested

French authorities have taken Telegram's founder and CEO into custody over the distribution of content on the online platform. Pavel Durov was arrested after landing in a private jet at Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening. The arrest warrant was issued as part of an investigation into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, promoting terrorism and cyberbullying. Guardian “This is a monstrous attack on freedom of speech worldwide,” a former press spokesman told Durov, according to New York Times“End Telegram’s impunity,” said a French investigator.

Durov, who lives in Dubai and has citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and France, is accused of failing to stop the criminal use of Telegram. Telegram, founded in 2013, has more than 900 million users and is a major source of biased information about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials said on Sunday they were trying to obtain information about Durov's arrest and gain access to him, but France was not cooperating. The billionaire left Russia in 2014 after the government demanded that Durov block opposition groups on another social network he founded. It is not publicly known whether he has renounced his Russian citizenship; France has said it considers his French citizenship to be paramount.

Telegram was similar to other social messaging apps when it was launched. Today, law enforcement agencies around the world are monitoring the platform because it is used by terrorist organizations, drug smugglers, far-right groups and arms dealers to organize and recruit members. The investigative news site VSquare reports according to Guardiandescribes Telegram as the “tool of choice for Russian propagandists, both left and right radicals, American QAnon and conspiracy theorists” and says it is an “ecosystem for radicalizing opinion.” AFP reported that Durov will appear in court soon, and French officials said they would issue a statement on the arrest on Monday. (More stories from France.)