French media reported on Saturday that Pavel Durov, the co-founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, had been taken into custody.
NPR was informed by the Paris prosecutor’s office that a statement regarding the case will be released on Monday.
Several French press sources claim that Durov was detained by law enforcement officers at Le Bourget Airport, outside of Paris, as he arrived on his private plane from Azerbaijan.
According to AFP, Durov has an arrest order filed for him following an inquiry into whether or not he has taken action against illicit activities such as drug trafficking, terrorism promotion, and fraud on Telegram.
According to the French daily Le Monde, the investigation is looking into whether Durov has resisted working with law authorities on matters like child pornography on Telegram and cyberscams.
In a statement, the Russian Embassy in France said that it had requested that Durov’s rights be upheld and that he be allowed access to consular services, as well as an explanation for his incarceration.
Durov, a 39-year-old Russian billionaire, holds dual citizenship with France and the United Arab Emirates. He is the founder of Telegram, a messaging app with about 1 billion users worldwide that is situated in Dubai.
He is known as “Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg” since he founded VKontakte, which translates to “in touch” in Russian, in 2007. This Facebook clone quickly became the most popular social network in the nation.
Telegram was founded in 2013 by Durov and his brother Nikolai. A year later, Pavel Durov left Russia after refusing to give Russian authorities access to information about VK members in Ukraine.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts embraced Telegram when it initially launched, and it has since grown to rank among the most widely used chat apps worldwide. It has become the go-to source for uncensored news about the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
Researchers are concerned about Telegram’s lax approach to content moderation since they have observed that extremism, misinformation, and illegal behaviour like the selling of drugs and child pornography frequently go unchecked.
In a March interview with the Financial Times, the reclusive CEO of Telegram addressed the notion that the company might have ties to the Kremlin, calling it “inaccurate.” This was the first time the CEO has talked to the media since 2017.
Durov frequently posts naked photos to Instagram, flaunting his toned body while posing in infinite pools or amid desert surroundings.
He frequently appears to be paying homage to Neo from The Matrix by dressing entirely in black.
When content from Telegram is transferred to other social networks, it travels the internet and is frequently governed by the content moderation policies of those other platforms. However, Durov has always defended Telegram as an open-ended platform, and those who support him have hailed him as a champion of free speech.
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