The billionaire Pavel Durov the founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Bourges Airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, news agencies report. Durov landed on his private plane on a flight from Azerbaijan. Telegram has yet to comment on the arrest.
The 39-year-old Durov was accompanied by his bodyguard and a woman. An arrest warrant was issued against Durov on the suspicion that the app was complicit in drug trafficking, pedophilia and fraud. Durov has been careful in recent years to avoid visits to places where Telegram is monitored and has avoided coming to Europe and especially to France where he is considered an “undesirable personality”.
Telegram is a fast and seemingly secure free instant messaging app that is the main competitor to the WhatsApp messaging app. It is known for its large groups that allow up to 200 thousand users, and the channels that allow one-way transmission of information to an unlimited number of subscribers. As of 2023, Telegram has about 900 million monthly active users.
Dubai-based Telegram was founded by Russian-born Durov, who left the country in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his social media platform VK, which he sold.
Durov, who is worth an estimated $15.5 billion by Forbes, has said in the past that some governments have sought to put pressure on him, but the app, which now has 900 million active users, should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics.”