Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris on suspicion of crimes related to the messaging app.
Local sources said on Sunday that the 39-year-old Durov had travelled from Azerbaijan on a private jet and that a French arrest warrant had been issued for him as part of a preliminary investigation.
The charges brought against Durov by France's OFMIN, which deals with preventing violence against minors, include fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying and organised crime, according to an official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
The French-Russian billionaire is also accused of failing to take action against harmful uses of Telegram.
Durov could be arraigned as soon as Sunday, according to French media.
TF1 and BFM television, both citing anonymous sources, said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators, a situation police believe could allow criminal activity to continue unchecked on the messaging app.
One investigator told AFP he was surprised Durov had entered France despite an arrest warrant being issued, saying “enough is enough of Telegram's impunity.”
Meanwhile, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Sunday that the Russian embassy in France had requested a consular meeting with Durov and demanded that his rights be guaranteed.
The embassy said France had so far “avoided involvement” in the situation surrounding Mr Durov. Russian diplomats were in contact with Mr Durov's lawyers, it said.
Russia-Ukraine War
Telegram, which offers desirable encryption and has a user base of nearly 1 billion people, was founded in Russia in 2013 by Durov and his brother.
He fled the country in 2014 and travelled around the world looking for places to base his company, including the German capital Berlin and San Francisco in the US.
But after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram became a primary source of unfiltered and sometimes graphic content from both warring countries.
The app is frequently used by Russian and Ukrainian government officials, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The platform has become what some analysts call a “virtual battlefield” for the war and is frequently used by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government officials, as well as the Russian government.
Additionally, Telegram's growing popularity has led several European countries, including France, to scrutinize the app over security and data leak concerns.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's representative to international organisations in Vienna, accused France of acting as a “totalitarian” society.
“Some naive people still do not understand that it is not safe to visit a country that is moving towards a more totalitarian society if it plays a more or less prominent role in the international information space,” Ulyanov wrote to X.
Several Russian bloggers have called for protests in front of French embassies around the world.
But Ben Aris, editor-in-chief of bne IntelliNews, told Al Jazeera that Durov is also in trouble in Russia because he has denied the Russian government access to an electronic key to read private Telegram messages.
Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after the platform refused to comply with a court order to allow national security agencies access to users' encrypted messages.
“Durov was recently in Azerbaijan, where Putin was visiting, presumably trying to pressure Putin to stop blocking Telegram in the country,” Aris said.
Meanwhile, tech tycoon and billionaire Elon Musk also criticised Durov's arrest, saying: “It's 2030 in Europe and you're being executed for liking a meme.”
Telegram did not immediately respond, and the French interior ministry and police have not commented, according to Reuters.