Telegram founder arrested in France

French authorities arrested Pavel Durov, the CEO of online communications platform Telegram, on Saturday, accused of distributing illegal content on the service, according to French media reports.

According to the New York Times, Durov, 39, a Russian-born entrepreneur, was arrested at Le Bourget airport near Paris after landing from Azerbaijan. His arrest could not be immediately confirmed.

The Russian embassy in France said in a statement on Sunday that it had asked the French authorities for clarification on the news of the arrest.

Representatives of the French police and the Interior Ministry declined to comment on the report and referred questions to the Paris prosecutor's office. The Paris prosecutor's office, citing an open investigation, also declined to comment.

Telegram, with more than 900 million users, has long been on the radar of law enforcement around the world as terrorist organizations, drug traffickers, arms dealers and far-right groups use it to communicate, recruit and organize.

National governments, including those in the European Union, have stepped up pressure on companies to combat online disinformation and extremism. Telegram has adopted less stringent content moderation than other similar online platforms and does not always cooperate with authorities.

Durov, whose net worth has been estimated by Bloomberg at more than $9 billion, has largely avoided the kind of public scrutiny faced by top executives at other major online platforms, including X’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok’s Shou Chew and Google’s Sundar Pichai.