Telegram CEO reportedly arrested at French airport

Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris Saturday evening, French media reported.
Durov was taken into custody under a French arrest warrant as he got off his private jet after a flight from Azerbaijan, TF1 TV and BFM TV reported, citing people familiar with the case. The warrant reportedly covers offenses related to Telegram. There was no confirmation from French officials.
The arrest was made by investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, part of the French Customs Department, according to the reports. Durov, who has been criticized for alleged insufficient moderation on the encrypted Telegram app, is accused of refusing to cooperate with authorities, according to the reports.
The arrest warrant issued by French prosecutors alleges that Telegram’s encryption and inadequate moderation of content amount to complicity in terrorism, drug-dealing, fraud, money-laundering, and other offenses, according to media reports.
Telegram on Sunday night directed to an emoji-filled statement in which it said it abides by all EU laws, that Durov has nothing to hide and frequently travels in Europe. The statement said: “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
The French interior ministry and police had no comment, Reuters reported. The Russian foreign ministry said its embassy in Paris was clarifying the situation around Durov, according to the Reuters report.
TF1 reported that French authorities were checking Durov’s possible connections with the Kremlin.
Durov was expected to appear in court on Sunday, TF1 and BFM reported.
The Telegram platform has around 900 million active users and is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. It has end-to-end encryption of communications.
Unlike U.S. platforms, which are criticized for their commercial exploitation of personal data, Telegram has taken a different approach to the confidentiality of user exchanges and data. It has pledged never to disclose information about its users.
After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram became the main source of unfiltered — and sometimes misleading — content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict. At the same time, Telegram has been criticized for facilitating the activities of extremist groups, including far-right rioters after the killing of three children in the U.K. in a stabbing attack in July.
Durov’s lawyer, Dmitry Agranovsky, called the charges against his client “absolutely ridiculous,” according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti. “It’s the same as blaming a car manufacturer, some giant auto concern, for the fact that its cars are used for criminal purposes, or blaming them for an accident,” Agranovsky was quoted as saying.
Following Durov’s reported detention, John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at Toronto University’s Citizen Lab, tweeted: “Arrests of employees of big platforms over moderation & access are rare.”
“I’m pretty sure this is an unprecedented action by a government against a large platform’s CEO,” Scott-Railton said in a post on X.
X owner Elon Musk, who has faced extensive criticism over moderation on his social media platform, shared an April interview that Durov did with conservative media personality Tucker Carlson, adding the hashtag #FreePavel. In his own tweet, Carlson claimed the arrest was an attack on free speech.
Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that the Russian-born Durov miscalculated by fleeing Russia and thinking that he would never have to cooperate with the government authorities abroad.
Antoaneta Roussi and Océane Herrero contributed reporting.
This story has been updated with a statement from Telegram.