French authorities have detained Telegram's founder and chief executive on charges related to the spread of content on the online platform. Pavel Durov was detained after arriving at Bourget airport outside Paris on a private jet on Saturday night. An arrest warrant was issued as part of an investigation into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, promoting terrorism and cyberbullying. Guardian “This is a horrific attack on freedom of speech around the world,” Durov said. The New York Times“We've had enough of Telegram's impunity,” the French investigator said.
Durov, who lives in Dubai and has dual UAE and French citizenship, is accused of failing to curb criminal use of Telegram. Launched in 2013, Telegram has more than 900 million users and is a major source of biased information about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russian authorities said Sunday they received information about Durov's arrest and were trying to contact him, but France was not cooperating. The billionaire left Russia in 2014 after the government asked Durov to block opposition groups on another social network he founded. It has not been made public whether he renounced his Russian citizenship, but France has said it considers his French nationality his primary nationality.
Telegram was just like any other social messaging app when it was released. Now law enforcement agencies around the world are scrutinizing the platform because it's being used by terrorist organizations, drug traffickers, far-right extremist groups, and arms dealers to organize and recruit. According to investigative journalism site VSquare, Guardiandescribed Telegram as “the 'go-to' tool for Russian propaganda, left- and right-wing extremism, US QAnon and conspiracy theorists” and said it was “an ecosystem for radicalizing opinion.” AFP reported that Durov will appear in court soon, and said French authorities would issue a statement on the arrest on Monday. (More news from France)