Billionaire and CEO of Telegram arrested in France

Pavel Durovthe 39-year-old founder and CEO of the social network Telegram, was arrested on Sunday at Bourget Airport near Paris after a Investigations by the French authorities in the lack of moderation of the platform. Officials claim that Telegram has enabled fraud, terrorism, drug trafficking, cyberbullying and organized crime on the app. Telegram also came under observation in the UK earlier this month for hosting far-right channels that mobilised for violent protests in English cities.

Telegram’s encrypted app has almostone billion users and is popular in Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet republics. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Telegram was “a virtual battlefield” that was used by both the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian officials.

On Sunday, the deputy speaker of the State Duma said, Vladislav Davankov,claimed that “The arrest of [Durov] could have political motives and be a means of obtaining the personal data of Telegram users.” The channel is accused of spreading disinformation and is also used by the Russian military for recruitment and coordination.

Moscow is demanding consular access to the Russian-born CEO, who now has dual citizenship of France and Dubai. X-CEO Elon Musk also has his sayWho posted“POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme.” Whether the backlash will help Durov to win his freedom in his upcomingAppearance in court – and whether Telegram will retain the trust of its users – remains an open question.