Telegram Chief Pavel Durov Arrested In France. Here's Why

The French authorities had issued a search warrant against Telegram chief Pavel Durov who was arrested on Saturday night.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested by French police on Saturday.

Source : X

Telegram chief executive, Pavel Durov was arrested by the French police on Saturday at an airport near Paris for alleged offences related to the popular messaging app, as per officials. 

The billionaire founder was detained at Le Bourget airport north of the French capital, one of the officials told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The Franco-Russian billionaire had just travelled from Baku in Azerbaijan. 

Durov was the subject of a French search warrant issued by the Office mineurs (OFMIN), an agency tasked with preventing violence against minors. The arrest warrant was issued in a preliminary investigation into alleged offences including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism. 

The popular encrypted messaging app is influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat. The app aims to hit one billion users in the next year. 

The investigation against Durov was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram making it an accomplice in drug trafficking, pedocriminal offences, and fraud, reported France's TF1 and BFMTV.

According to BFMTV, Durov was not a regular visitor in France and Europe, since the search warrant was issued against him. Rather he was spending most of his time in the United Arab Emirates, in countries of the former Soviet Union, or in South America. 

Since his arrest was valid only if he was on French soil, it is an enigma for the authorities as to why he had visited the country. 

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered and sometimes graphic and misleading content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict. 

The app was also preferred by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his officials for communication. The Kremlin and Russian government also use it to disseminate their news. The messaging app also became one of the few places where Russians can access the news about the war.