Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, a Russian-born billionaire, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday and placed in custody, according to a police source. Moscow warned Paris to accord him his rights while Elon Musk criticized the attack on free speech in Europe.
There was no official confirmation from France of the arrest, but French and Russian media reported that Durov was arrested after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a private jet from Azerbaijan. It was reported that Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into possible criminal activity on Telegram due to a lack of moderators and cooperation with police.
Telegram, founded by Durov in Dubai, is one of the major social media platforms with close to one billion users. Durov, estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5 billion, created the encrypted messaging app as a way to communicate under pressure in Russia. After refusing to shut down opposition communities on his social media platform VK, Durov left Russia in 2014.
Telegram has become a significant platform, especially in Russia, Ukraine, and former Soviet republics, where it is used for unfiltered content related to the conflict in Ukraine. Russia blocked Telegram in 2018 after it refused to grant state security services access to encrypted messages, sparking protests and criticism.
Despite Durov’s commitment to protecting user privacy and freedom of speech, his app’s popularity has drawn scrutiny from European countries, including France, over security and data breach concerns. Musk and others have expressed concern about the implications for free speech and privacy rights in the wake of Durov’s arrest.
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