Paris, France.- Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and chief executive of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested on Saturday evening at Le Bourget airport outside Paris, TF1 TV and BFM TV reported, citing anonymous sources.
Durov was travelling on board his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding that he had been the subject of an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation.
Both TF1 and BFM said the investigation focused on the lack of moderators at Telegram, which police believed allowed criminal activity to continue unhindered on the messaging app. Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police did not comment.
TF1 said Durov was travelling from Azerbaijan and was detained at around 8pm (local time).
Dubai-based Telegram was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he later sold. Durov, who is worth $15.5 billion according to Forbes, said some governments had tried to pressure him but that the app, which now has 900 million active users, should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics.”
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