Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested at French airport

• French police arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on Saturday at an airport near Paris.
• Durov was arrested due to a “preliminary police investigation,” Reuters reported.
• Telegram has faced increased pressure to moderate content on the platform, which Durov has resisted.

French police arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on Saturday as he disembarked from his private jet at Le Bourget airport outside Paris.

The elusive billionaire entrepreneur was arrested as part of a preliminary investigation into criminal activity on the instant messaging app, the BBC reported. The investigation is focused on posts on the platform that may include offenses such as fraud, drug trafficking, and organized crime. Authorities in various countries have long accused Telegram of failing to moderate such content adequately.

Durov’s arrest comes amid increasing international pressure on social media platforms to moderate content on their sites and apps. The European Union, of which France is a key member, recently implemented the Digital Services Act, which requires large tech companies to strictly moderate illegal content on their platforms or face steep fines. Telegram has faced intense scrutiny from the EU this year over its moderation practices since the platform has grown to 41 million EU users — just shy of the 45 million size that would require the platform to follow DSA rules.

Telegram is a particularly influential social media platform in Ukraine and Russia and has become a primary source of information about the war between the two countries. The site has come under repeated fire for hosting graphic and misleading content about the Russia-Ukraine war and the war between Israel and Hamas. However, Telegram rarely shuts down channels without prompting from law enforcement or regulatory agencies.

Durov, born in Russia, left the country in 2014 after he refused to comply with Kremlin orders to shut down the accounts of opposition groups on a separate social media platform he founded, VKontakte, Reuters reported. That year, Durov sold his stake in VKontakte.

“I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone,” Durov told Tucker Carlson in April about his decision to leave Russia.

The Russian Embassy in France said in a post on X that it is in contact with Durov’s attorney and has asked French authorities to provide further details about Durov’s detainment.

Representatives for Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.