Pavel Durov, Telegram CEO, Arrested at Paris Airport

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the messaging platform Telegram, was arrested on Saturday evening at Bourget Airport near Paris by French authorities. Durov has been accused of several violations related to Telegram in France, and the Russian embassy in Paris has requested consular access to this Russian billionaire and demanded guarantees for his rights. The news of Durov's arrest was first reported by French television networks. According to the report, the 39-year-old billionaire, accompanied by his bodyguard and assistant, was arrested between 5:30 PM and 8 PM local time on Saturday, September 3. AFP reported, citing an informed source, that he originated from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and was expected to spend at least Sunday evening in Paris for dinner. Durov is expected to appear in court on Sunday. The French police's unit for combating violence against minors issued the arrest warrant for Durov. This unit is responsible for investigating various crimes, from fraud to drug trafficking, cyberbullying, and organized crime. The French judiciary has accused Durov of failing to act against the criminal use of the Telegram messaging service by some of its users. One investigator expressed surprise that this dual-national Russian-French billionaire decided to come to Paris knowing he was being pursued there. He stated, 'Impunity for Telegram is enough.' According to sources close to the case, Durov may have come to Paris feeling he had such impunity. The internet messaging service Telegram, launched in 2013 by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai, is an encrypted messaging platform headquartered in Dubai. The platform claims it never discloses user information. In one of his rare interviews last April in Dubai, Durov mentioned that the idea of launching a social network came to him after facing significant pressure from Russian authorities. After leaving Russia in 2014, he attempted to reside in Berlin, London, Singapore, and San Francisco before choosing Dubai, praising what he called the 'neutral' business environment of the United Arab Emirates. Durov stated, 'I think we are doing a good job with Telegram, with 900 million users that will likely exceed one billion monthly active users within a year.' While the US and the EU have asked large platforms to remove illegal content, in the UAE, Telegram has kept itself away from such regulations. Telegram, which allows the creation of chat groups of up to 200,000 members, has been accused of spreading misinformation and proliferating hateful, neo-Nazi, child abuse, conspiracy, or terrorist content. According to some reports, Telegram, which Durov claims is now valued at over $30 billion, is seeking to offer its shares on the US stock market. Pavel Durov has refrained from commenting on this, but he has stated that after adding advertisements and some paid services, Telegram's revenue has significantly increased. According to data from Data.ai, Telegram ranks sixth among popular applications. In 2017, Iran filed a complaint against the management of this messaging service, claiming 'terrorist groups are using Telegram.' In response, Pavel Durov wrote that he could neither travel to Iran nor Russia, as Iran considers him a criminal, and the FSB (Russian Security Service) has also joined in pursuing him legally.