Aug 25 (Reuters) – Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, was arrested on Saturday evening at Bourget airport outside Paris, TF1 and BFM television reported, citing unnamed sources.
Both TF1 and BFM said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators at Telegram, a situation that police believe could allow criminal activity to continue unchecked on the messaging app.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Neither did the French interior ministry or police comment. Russia, which has tried to ban Telegram in the past, said it was taking steps to “clarify” Durov's situation.
What we know about Durov and Telegram:
* Russia-born Durov, 39, is the founder and owner of messaging app Telegram, a free-to-use platform that competes with other social media platforms such as Facebook's WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. The platform aims to reach 1 billion monthly active users within a year.
* Telegram is influential in Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. It has become a key source of information about Russia's war in Ukraine and is frequently used by government officials in both Moscow and Kiev. Some analysts have called the app a “virtual battlefield” in the war.
* Durov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on VKontakte, a social media platform he had sold.
* Durov received French citizenship in August 2021. In 2017, he moved Telegram to Dubai and, according to French media, also received United Arab Emirates citizenship. He also holds citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis, a twin-island nation in the Caribbean, according to media reports.
* Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after it failed to comply with a court order to allow national security agencies access to users' encrypted messages. The measure had little impact on Telegram's availability in Russia but sparked large protests in Moscow and criticism from NGOs. * But Telegram's growing popularity has led to investigations from several European countries, including France, over security and data leak concerns. In May, EU technology regulators said they were in contact with Telegram as it approached a critical usage threshold that could make it subject to stricter requirements under a landmark EU online content law.
* “I'd rather be free than follow someone else's orders,” Durov told American journalist Tucker Carlson in April about leaving Russia and scouting locations for his company in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.
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Reporting by Lydia Kelly in Melbourne; Additional reporting by Camille Reynaud in Toronto; Editing by David Gregorio and Kim Coghill
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