Pavel Durov, Billionaire Founder And CEO Of Telegram Messaging App, Arrested In France –

French police arrested Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, at an airport near Paris on Saturday for alleged offences related to the messaging app.

The Franco-Russian billionaire, 39, was detained at Le Bourget airport north of the French capital on Saturday evening. He had just travelled from Baku, in Azerbaijan. Durov was expected to appear in court on Sunday.

France’s OFMIN, an agency tasked with preventing violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov as the coordinating agency in a preliminary investigation into alleged offences including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism.

Durov is suspected of failing to take action to curb the criminal use of his platform. “Enough of Telegram’s impunity,” said one of the investigators, adding they were surprised Durov came to Paris knowing he was a wanted man.

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. 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.

(With agency inputs)