France detains Telegram’s Pavel Durov, messaging app questions move

Telegram has questioned the detention of its chief executive officer (CEO) Pavel Durov by French authorities at Paris’ Le Bourget airport over the weekend over charges of failing to take steps to prevent criminal use of the messaging app.

Russian-born Durov’s arrest was first reported by Agence France-Presse and other French media.

The Russian embassy in Paris stated that it “immediately asked the French authorities for an explanation of the reasons and demanded that they ensure the protection of his rights and provide consular access.”

Durov, 39, currently stays in Dubai and is a citizen of both France and the United Arab Emirates, the Telegram website showed.

“Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,” the messaging app said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform. Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information. We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation,” it added.

France’s Ofmin, an agency that fights violence against minors, had issued the arrest warrant for Durov, AFP reported.

Ofmin coordinates preliminary probes into alleged offenses such as fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime and promotion of terrorism, the French news agency said.

Durov and his brother Nikolai, a programmer and mathematician, built Telegram, which boasts about 900 million active users.

Telegram was not the first messaging app that the Durov brothers built.

They had earlier developed Russia-based social network VKontakte in 2006, which later ran into trouble with the Kremlin and forced Durov to flee that country in 2014.

He has a net worth of more than $9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.