Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, has been arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris under a warrant for offenses related to the popular messaging app, AFP, TF1 TV and BFM TV report, citing unnamed sources.
Telegram, particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union, is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat. It aims to hit one billion users in the next year.
Based in Dubai, Telegram was founded by Russian-born Durov, 39. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.
Durov was traveling aboard his private jet, TF1 says on its website, adding that he was targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation.
TF1 and BFM both say the investigation is focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that police consider that this situation allows criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.
Telegram does not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police have no comment.
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