Telegram founder Pavel Durov arrested in France, Here's all you need to know

Pavel Durov, the mastermind of the messaging app Telegram, was detained at Bourget Airport near Paris, French local media have confirmed. His detention led to an investigation that roped Telegram in for lack of sufficient moderation on their content, thus leaving criminal activities unattended. Neither the Telegram officials nor French authorities have made any comments on the same while Russia's Foreign Ministry is making great efforts to get clarification on the same.

A Russian-born billionaire tech entrepreneur, Durov has an estimated fortune of $15.5 billion, according to Forbes. He is famous for developing Telegram, a free messaging platform that has grown to become one of the major players in the global social media landscape, competing with giant firms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok. It is very popular in Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet republics. It represents a lifeline for getting information as the war in Ukraine rages on. Indeed, some analysts have called Telegram a kind of "virtual battlefield" because top officials on both sides of the conflict over Russia's aggression in Ukraine have used it.

Durov's career in the tech world began when he came up with VKontakte, the largest social networking site of Russia, back in 2006. However, in 2014 he famously left Russia after the government demand to shut down opposition communities on VK was rejected by him. He sold his stake in VK and moved to build Telegram globally. In 2017, Durov moved himself and Telegram to Dubai to search for a better business environment.

In 2021, he reportedly became a French citizen, another chapter of his global odyssey, which has also included residence in Berlin, London, Singapore, and San Francisco. With an estimated net worth north of $15 billion, Durov recently found himself dabbling in minimalism, telling Tucker Carlson in a February 2024 interview that apart from money or Bitcoin, he does not own much else, including any real estate, jets, or yachts. He says he is concerned about his freedom, not goods.

With Durov at the helm, Telegram is well on its way to hitting one billion active monthly users next year, cementing its place as one of the biggest social media platforms. But a recent arrest in France could mark the start of serious troubles ahead for the platform—especially in the questions of moderation and crime.

(With Reuters inputs)