Pavel Durov, the CEO of the popular messaging app Telegram, was arrested by French police on Saturday evening at Le Bourget airport, located just north of Paris. The 39-year-old Franco-Russian billionaire, who had arrived from Baku, Azerbaijan, is expected to appear in court on Sunday to face serious allegations, sources informed AFP.
The arrest comes as part of a preliminary investigation headed by France’s OFMIN (Office for Preventing Violence Against Minors). The office had issued a warrant for Mr Durov’s arrest, citing allegations that include money laundering, drug trafficking and the sharing of child sexual abuse content on Telegram. The platform’s lack of moderation and its alleged use by criminal groups have been central to the investigation.
Local news outlets BFMTV and TF1 reported that the investigation focused on Telegram’s potential exploitation by criminal entities, as well as Mr Durov’s alleged failure to implement effective measures to prevent illegal activities on the platform.
Durov’s arrest is reportedly part of a preliminary investigation into a startling array of alleged offenses—drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and the promotion of terrorism—deemed to have been permitted on Telegram, which Durov claimed in July has 950 million users.
American commentator Tucker Carlson stated that the Telegram CEO was arrested for refusing to “censor the truth.”
“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,” he wrote on X.
Although France has yet to officially confirm the arrest, the Russian embassy in Paris was quick to accuse French authorities of not clarifying the reasons for Durov’s detention or facilitating consular access. “As of today, the French authorities are, at the present time, not cooperating on this issue,” the embassy said in a statement. “We are in contact with P. Durov’s lawyer.” Durov became a French citizen in 2021. Based in Dubai, Durov also has United Arab Emirates citizenship.
Who is Durov?
Pavel Durov, often referred to as “Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg”, has a long history of defying government demands. Before founding Telegram, he created Vkontakte (VK), Russia’s largest social network, but was forced to leave the country in 2014 after refusing to comply with government orders to hand over data on Ukrainian protesters. Since then, Mr Durov has lived in various countries, eventually settling in Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered.
His stance on privacy and his refusal to censor content on Telegram have made him a controversial figure. In an interview earlier this year with Tucker Carlson, Mr Durov stressed on his commitment to keeping Telegram “neutral” and free from geopolitical influence.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced that it is taking steps to “clarify” the situation, particularly whether the founder of Telegram has indeed been detained. Pavel Durov, who became a naturalised French citizen in August 2021, also holds citizenship in the United Arab Emirates.
Its not new for Telegram
Questions over lack of moderation on Telegram have plagued the company for years. Islamist extremists and far-right activists have both organized on the platform, and at times used it to incite violence. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza, Telegram has found itself at the heart of geopolitics—both as a vital source of information for people on the ground and a dangerous source of disinformation and sometimes graphic content. Durov always claims to be “neutral” and to have no political affiliations.
It is extremely rare to hold the providers of web services liable for the actions of their users, and rarer still to append personal liability. What remains unclear is whether the alleged failures of Telegram are extraordinary, or if the escalation is instead on the part of the French authorities.
In a statement on Sunday, Telegram said Durov “had nothing to hide” and that “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform”.
Will it lead to the closure of Telegram?
Some have already spoken out in fear of a “chilling effect”, with executives feeling like they need to over-moderate and over-censor their services lest their own safety is at risk whenever they jet to Cannes for a holiday.
The arrest is also likely to hasten the move to adopt universal end-to-end encryption, with leaders unable to be held liable for content they cannot see. The specifics of Durov’s arrest remain unclear, particularly whether his behaviour was in line with industry standards.
