French authorities on Saturday arrested Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of online communications platform Telegram, on suspicion of spreading illegal content on the messaging app, according to French media reports.
Durov, a Russian-born French and Emirati entrepreneur, He left Azerbaijan on a private jet and was detained at Le Bourget airport near Paris. Seeking Alpha could not immediately confirm the arrest.
The Russian embassy in France said in a statement on Sunday that it had asked French authorities for more information about the arrests.
Telegram has more than 900 million users worldwide and has come under scrutiny by law enforcement agencies around the world for years as terrorist cells, drug smugglers, arms dealers and extremist groups have used the app for encrypted communications.
Countries, including those in the European Union, are stepping up pressure on social media companies as part of efforts to counter extremism and disinformation.
Bloomberg estimates Durov's net worth at more than $9 billion, and he holds French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, according to Telegram.
The 39-year-old entrepreneur has largely avoided public scrutiny, unlike other digital platform executives such as Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg.Nasdaq:META), X's Elon Musk, TikTok's Show Chiu (BDNCE), Alphabet's Sundar Pichai (Nasdaq:GOOG).