French authorities detained Pavel Durov, the French-Russian billionaire who founded the messaging app Telegram, at an airport outside Paris. Durov was taken into custody by officers from France’s anti-fraud office after arriving at Bourget Airport on a private-jet flight from Azerbaijan. The Telegram founder, often called the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia,” had not traveled regularly to France and Europe since the arrest warrant was issued. He was wanted under a French arrest warrant for the lack of moderation on Telegram, which led to the platform being used for money laundering, drug trafficking, and sharing pedophilic content.
European Union regulators have intensified efforts to crack down on online platforms to combat disinformation and illegal content. The Russian Embassy in France confirmed Durov’s detention and stated that they are in contact with his attorney. The French prosecutor’s office has not responded to requests for comment on the situation. Durov, along with his brother Nikolai Durov, launched Telegram in 2013, and the app boasts 900 million active users. Pavel Durov’s net worth is estimated to be $9.15 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with the government’s requests to hand over data on Ukrainian Vkontakte users and currently resides in Dubai.
