French police detained Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on the night of the 24th. The photo was taken in February 2016 in Barcelona (2024, Reuters/Albert Gea)
[Paris/Moscow 25th Reuters] – French police arrested Pavel Durov, the 39-year-old founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, at Le Bourget airport in the suburbs of Paris on the night of the 24th, according to sources.
He was arrested as part of a preliminary investigation by the French national police and military police, which is examining the suspicion that he has neglected a variety of crimes by failing to conduct content moderation on Telegram and being uncooperative with the police.
The French authorities have not confirmed Durov’s arrest.
Durov, who is of Russian origin, holds dual citizenship in France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to two sources from the French police and one source from Russia, he was arrested after arriving by private jet from Azerbaijan. A warrant had been issued for his arrest in France.
Local media reports that Durov may be prosecuted on the 25th.
Telegram has not responded to Reuters’s request for comment. The French Ministry of the Interior, the police, and the Paris prosecutor’s office have also not provided comments.
Based in Dubai, UAE, Telegram is an encrypted messaging application with nearly one billion users, and holds influence in former Soviet republics like Russia and Ukraine. Analysts have referred to it as a “virtual battlefield” since both governments’ officials have been using it since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that although Durov holds French citizenship, it has demanded that the French government allow contact with him.
Elon Musk, the U.S. businessman who owns the microblogging site X (formerly Twitter), criticized Durov’s detention as an attack on freedom of speech in Europe.
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