French authorities have apprehended Pavel Durov, the creator of the Telegram messaging app, at an airport outside of Paris. He had an arrest order issued against him.
The French-Russian billionaire, who had landed at Bourget Airport on a trip from Azerbaijan, was taken into custody on Saturday evening by agents of France’s anti-fraud division, which is part of French customs.
Due to Telegram’s lack of moderation, which is said to have allowed the network to be used for money laundering, drug trafficking and the distribution of pedophilic content, Durov, 39, was ‘wanted’ by a French arrest order.
He had not regularly visited France or other parts of Europe since the arrest order was issued.
Given Durov’s lack of moderation on Telegram and his unwillingness to assist law enforcement, France reportedly issued an arrest order for him on counts of involvement in drug trafficking, crimes against children and fraud.
The founder of Telegram, who claims to have over 900 million users, is currently based in Dubai and was born in Russia. He became a naturalised French citizen in August 2021.
In 2014, Durov—who also founded the social network VKontakte—left Russia after refusing to provide Russian security authorities access to user data on the platform.
Later, when Telegram refused to provide security authorities access to its users’ online chats, Russia made an unsuccessful attempt to shut it down.
Russian speakers use Telegram extensively. It has developed into a major information hub for the conflict in Ukraine and is apparently a communication channel for the Russian military.
Also Read: Bhupendra Patel Orders Immediate Evacuation, Aid as South Gujarat Battles Severe Rainfall
