Telegram founder Pavel Durov reportedly arrested in France

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, was arrested on Saturday evening as he disembarked from his private jet at France's Bourget airport, French television channel TF1 reported.

Reports of Durov's arrest sparked widespread discussion and speculation on social media, including on Telegram itself, although they appear to be largely based on the same few reports in the French media. Neither Telegram nor a spokesperson for the French anti-fraud agency ONAF immediately responded to a request for comment.

According to TF1, an arrest warrant for Durov was issued in France following a preliminary police investigation. French authorities reportedly claim that Telegram's lack of content moderation and unwillingness to cooperate with law enforcement make Durov an accomplice to drug trafficking, money laundering and sharing of child pornography that allegedly take place on the app.

The reported arrest is likely to further fuel the debate over the extent to which messaging apps should be held responsible (legally and otherwise) for the messages shared by their users.

Forbes estimates Durov's net worth at $15.5 billion. Although he was born in Russia, he left the country in 2014 after resisting government pressure to release data on Ukrainian protest leaders from his former social network, Vkontakte. Durov now lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based, and his plane reportedly arrived from Azerbaijan.

Durov said last month that Telegram has 950 million active users and aims to reach one billion this year. At the same time, the company claims to have only around 30 developers – a very small team for an app of Telegram's scale, which likely makes Durov even more important to the company's operations.