Who is Pavel Durov and what is his app?

Pavel Durov, the CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested in France.

According to authorities, the arrest was made on the basis of a warrant for criminal offenses related to the app, and the investigation reportedly revolves around poor moderation. Mr. Durov is accused of failing to take steps to curb criminal use of Telegram.

A statement from Telegram said: “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform.”

Mr Durov, 39, is a multi-billionaire originally from Russia.

He founded the popular Russian social media company VKontakte.

In 2014, Mr Durov left Russia after refusing to comply with the government’s demands to close opposition communities on the platform.

He founded Telegram a year earlier and now runs the company from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he now lives.

He holds citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and France, but Russia has stated that it continues to consider him a citizen.

According to the telegram, Mr. Durov frequently travels around Europe.

In an interview with conservative US media star Tucker Carlson in April, Mr Durov said he would reject certain requests from authorities to remove content from his platform.

He said: “Where we thought it went too far – that it was inconsistent with our values ​​of freedom of expression and protecting people's private correspondence – we would ignore it.”

Telegram is one of the world's largest social media and messaging platforms alongside Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat.

In July, Mr Durov claimed that Telegram had 950 million monthly active users. It is popular in Russia and Ukraine, while it is also used by pro-democracy groups in Iran and Hong Kong.

While Telegram offers encryption, meaning that messages can only be read on the device that sends them and the device that receives them, this is not the default setting for the user.

The big difference between Telegram and similar services like WhatsApp is the size of the groups you can join on Telegram.

WhatsApp limits group size to 1,000 users, while Telegram allows up to 200,000 people in a group.

The platform has been criticized for allowing disinformation to spread in these huge groups.

Critics argue that the platform spreads conspiracy-theoretical, neo-Nazi, pedophile or terrorist content.

French authorities have reportedly said the investigation into Mr Durov is about the app's lack of cooperation with law enforcement regarding drug trafficking, child sexual abuse and fraud.

In the UK, the app has come under fire for hosting far-right channels that were instrumental in organizing violent riots in English cities this month. In addition, cybersecurity experts say the app's moderation of extremist and illegal content is significantly weaker than other social media companies and messaging apps.

Following Mr Durov’s arrest, Telegram said its moderation was “in line with industry standards and constantly improving.”

The company said it complies with European Union laws, including the Digital Services Act, which aims to ensure a safe and responsible online environment.

“Nearly a billion users worldwide use Telegram as a means of communication and as a source of important information,” the app said in a statement.

“We expect a quick resolution to this situation. Telegram is with you all.”

Details have yet to emerge from the French authorities as to why Mr Durov was actually arrested in connection with Telegram.

However, the owner of a social media or messaging platform being arrested because of the content on that platform is a fairly unprecedented event.

Elon Musk posted #FreePavel on X along with a clip of the Telegram founder talking to Carlson about the changes the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire made after buying the site formerly known as Twitter.

Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who now lives in Russia after exposing extensive internet and phone surveillance by US intelligence, said on X that Mr Durov's arrest was “an attack on the basic human rights of freedom of expression and association”.

He added: “I am surprised and deeply saddened that [French President Emmanuel] Macron has gone so far as to take hostages to gain access to private communications. In doing so, he is humiliating not only France but the entire world.”