Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and proprietor of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport exterior Paris shortly after touchdown on a personal jet late Saturday and positioned in custody, three sources informed Reuters.
The arrest of the 39-year-old know-how billionaire prompted a warning on Sunday from Moscow to Paris that he ought to be accorded his rights, and criticism from X proprietor Elon Musk, who mentioned that free speech in Europe was beneath assault.
There was no official affirmation from France of the arrest, however two French police sources and one Russian supply who spoke on situation of anonymity mentioned that Durov was arrested shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a personal jet from Azerbaijan.
One of many two French police sources mentioned that forward of the jet’s arrival, police had observed Durov was on the passenger listing and moved to arrest him as a result of he was the topic of an arrest warrant in France.
“Telegram abides by EU legal guidelines, together with the Digital Companies Act — its moderation is inside trade requirements and always enhancing,” Telegram mentioned in a press release about the arrest.
The arrest of @Durov is an assault on the fundamental human rights of speech and affiliation. I’m shocked and deeply saddened that Macron has descended to the extent of taking hostages as a method for having access to personal communications. It lowers not solely France, however the world.
“Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to cover and travels often in Europe,” it mentioned. “It’s absurd to say {that a} platform or its proprietor are chargeable for abuse of that platform.”
Durov, who has twin French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as a part of a preliminary police investigation into allegedly permitting a variety of crimes resulting from a scarcity of moderators on Telegram and a scarcity of co-operation with police, a 3rd French police supply mentioned.
A cybersecurity armed forces unit and France’s nationwide anti-fraud police unit are main the investigation, that supply mentioned, including that the investigative choose was specialised in organized crime.
“We’re awaiting a immediate decision of this example. Telegram is with you all,” the corporate mentioned.
The French Inside Ministry, police and Paris prosecutor’s workplace had no remark.
Russian lawmaker Maria Butina, who spent 15 months in U.S. jail for performing as an unregistered Russian agent, mentioned Durov “is a political prisoner — a sufferer of a witch hunt by the West.” Durov’s arrest led information bulletins in Russia.
Telegram, based mostly in Dubai, was based by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to adjust to calls for to close down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he has offered.
The encrypted software, with shut to at least one billion customers, is especially influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the previous Soviet Union. It’s ranked as one of many main social media platforms after Fb, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat.
‘Digital battlefield’
Durov, who’s estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5 billion US, mentioned in April that whereas some governments had sought to strain him, the app ought to stay a impartial platform and never a “participant in geopolitics.”
He got here up with the concept for an encrypted messaging app whereas dealing with strain in Russia. His youthful brother, Nikolai, designed the encryption.
“I’d fairly be free than to take orders from anybody,” Durov mentioned in April about his exit from Russia and seek for a house for his firm, which included stints in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.
After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Telegram has change into the primary supply of unfiltered — and typically graphic and deceptive — content material from either side in regards to the conflict and the politics surrounding the battle.
The platform has change into what some analysts name “a digital battlefield” for the conflict, used closely by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his officers, in addition to the Russian authorities.
Russia’s Overseas Affairs Ministry mentioned it had despatched a notice to Paris demanding entry to Durov, though it mentioned that he had French citizenship.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev mentioned that Durov had misjudged by fleeing Russia and pondering that he would by no means need to co-operate with the safety providers overseas.
Medvedev, who frequently makes use of Telegram to criticize and insult the West, mentioned Durov needed to be a “sensible ‘man of the world’ who lives splendidly and not using a Motherland.”
Encrypted messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp have been an enormous supply of misinformation and disinformation within the Israel-Hamas conflict. Misinformation consultants say it’s as a result of they’re troublesome to reasonable.
“He miscalculated,” Medvedev mentioned. “For all our frequent enemies now, he’s Russian — and subsequently unpredictable and harmful.”
Russia started blocking Telegram in 2018 after the app refused to adjust to a courtroom order granting state safety providers entry to its customers’ encrypted messages.
The motion interrupted many third-party providers however had little impact on the provision of Telegram there. The ban order, nonetheless, sparked mass protests in Moscow and criticism from NGOs.
Platform beneath scrutiny
Telegram says it “is dedicated to defending person privateness and human rights similar to freedom of speech and meeting.”
Durov has beforehand accused U.S. legislation enforcement businesses such because the FBI of looking for to get a again door into the platform. The FBI has not commented on these allegations.
Telegram’s growing reputation, nonetheless, has prompted scrutiny from a number of nations in Europe, together with France, on safety and knowledge breach considerations.
Musk, the billionaire proprietor of X, the social media platform previously generally known as Twitter, mentioned after studies of Durov’s detention: “It is 2030 in Europe and also you’re being executed for liking a meme.”
Outdoors the French Embassy in Moscow, a lone protester held an indication studying: “Liberté pour Pavel Durov.”
