Telegram CEO arrested at French airport

Pavel Durov, chief executive officer of Telegram, the messaging platform, has been arrested by French police at the Le Bourget airport. 

French media report that Durov was arrested after his private jet landed at the airport, which lies north of Paris.

According to the BBC, the 39-year-old is being held for offences relating to the popular messaging app.

There are also reports that the CEO could face multiple charges bordering on alleged terrorism, money laundering, drug trafficking and child abuse content.

Mario Nawfal, an investor and X content curator, said Durov “could face up to 20 years in prison. His arrest is attributed to Telegram’s lack of content moderation and his failure to cooperate with French law enforcement”.

Durov, who is Russian, founded Telegram in 2013.

He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government directives to shut out opposition voices on his VKontakte social media platform — which he would go on to sell.

Russia’s embassy in France says it is taking “immediate steps” to clarify the situation.

Telegram is popular in Russia, Ukraine and former Soviet Union states. It was however banned in Russia in 2018 after Durov baulked at a directive to hand over user data.

The app is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat.