Telegram founder Pavel Durov arrested in France over non-moderation of activities on messaging app

Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov has been arrested by French authorities while disembarking from a private jet at Le Bourget airport in Paris, France on Saturday over allegations of enabling terrorism, drug trafficking, pedo criminal offences, and fraud on the messaging platform.

According to French outlet TF1, the OFMIN, a part of the national directorate of the French judicial police, had earlier issued an arrest warrant for the French-Russian billionaire over his failure to cooperate with French authorities in their investigation into lack of moderation of activities on Telegram.

French authorities have been investigating criminal activities including terrorism, drug trafficking, pedo criminal offences, and fraud on the Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based platform, known for its openness to sort of activities and information with little to no moderation compared to other popular social media platforms such as Instagram, X.com, Facebook and others.

Since the arrest warrant was issued against him, Mr Durov has largely avoided travelling through Europe and countries where Telegram is under surveillance but rather travelled via the UAE, former Soviet countries and South America.

However, he was arrested by French authorities on the tarmac of Le Bourget airport around 8pm shortly after disembarking a flight from Azerbaijan and was subsequently taken into custody for an appearance before a judge on Saturday before a possible indictment on Sunday.

“He made a big mistake this evening,” a source close to the investigation told TF1. “We don’t know why… Was this flight just a stopover? In any case, he’s in custody.”

Durov, 39, who has an estimated network of $15.5 billion, moved out of  Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.

Telegram has over 900 million users globally and the popularity of the app has skyrocketed in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 with the platform serving as the main source of unfiltered information about the war and politics coming out of both sides.

Both Ukraine and Russia have regularly been using Telegram to disseminate their news. It has also become one of the few places where Russians can access news about the war.

Reacting to the news, Russia’s representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said on X.com that “Some naive persons still don’t understand that if they play more or less visible role in international information space it is not safe for them to visit countries which move towards much more totalitarian societies.”

Several Russian politicians and American figures including X.com CEO Elon Musk and conservative host Tucker Carlson, whom Mr Durov had an exclusive interview with in April, have condemned the move by French authorities, stating darkness is descending fast on the free world.

“Pavel Durov left Russia when the government tried to control his social media company, Telegram. But in the end, it wasn’t Putin who arrested him for allowing the public to exercise free speech. It was a western country, a Biden administration ally and enthusiastic NATO member, that locked him away,” Carlson posted on X.com

“Pavel Durov sits in a French jail tonight, a living warning to any platform owner who refuses to censor the truth at the behest of governments and intel agencies. Darkness is descending fast on the formerly free world. Here’s our interview with Durov from several months ago.”