Who is Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram arrested in France

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov left Russia in 2021.

Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, local French media reported, citing unnamed sources.
They said the investigation focused on the lack of moderators on Telegram and that police believed this situation allowed criminal activity on the messaging app to continue unhindered.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police did not comment. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was taking steps to “clarify” the situation and questioned whether Western non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would call for his release.

What is known about Durov and Telegram:

* Durov, 39, a native of Russia, is the founder and owner of messaging app Telegram, a free platform that competes with other social media platforms such as Facebook's WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. The platform aims to surpass the one billion active monthly users mark within a year.

* Telegram is highly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. The app has become a major source of information about Russia's war in Ukraine and is used extensively by both Moscow and Kyiv government officials. Some analysts call the app the “virtual battlefield” of the war.

* Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his social media platform VKontakte, which he subsequently sold.

* According to Russian and French media, Durov became a French citizen in 2021. He moved to Dubai with Telegram in 2017.

* “I would rather be free than take orders from anyone,” Durov told US journalist Tucker Carlson in April about his departure from Russia and the search for a location for his company, which included stops in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.

* In the same interview, Durov said that he does not own any major assets such as real estate, jets or yachts other than money or bitcoins because he wants to be free.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)