Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested at the Bourget airport near Paris on Saturday, according to French outlet TF1, which cited an unnamed source.
The Daily Mail reported that Durov had been traveling on his private jet and was targeted by an arrest warrant in France, according to the French outlet. He was reportedly arrested around 8 pm local time when he was with his bodyguard.
TF1 reported that Durov was under threat of a warrant due to the lack of moderation on the Telegram platform. He had arrived straight from Azerbaijan and was arrested after he got off the plane. The outlet reported that he is facing 20 years in prison for alleged offenses including terrorism, narcotic supply, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods and others.
"Pavel Durov will end up in pretrial detention, that's for sure," the source reportedly told TF1. "On [Telegram], he allowed an incalculable number of offenses and crimes to be committed, which he did nothing to moderate."
Durov founded Telegram in 2013 along with his brother. The messaging service has 950 million users worldwide and is seen as an uncensored free speech platform. Durov is originally from Russia, but has not lived there since Vladimir Putin's invasion of Crimea. In 2014 he said, "I don't have any business in Russia and have no plans to return there. I have no Russian citizenship anymore." The tech tycoon lives in Dubai and has dual citizenship in both France and the United Arab Emirates.
Durov said earlier this year that Telegram would remain as a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics.” However, the UK government has taken issue with Telegram, saying that it allows extremists to use it for criminal means.
The platform offers end-to-end encryption, meaning data can only be accessed by the users. It has calls as well as "secret chats" that focus on the privacy aspect of the platform.
The Telegram founder and CEO is estimated to be worth about $15.5 billion, per Reuters. When the outlet reached out to the French Interior Ministry and law enforcement for comment, neither immediately responded on the matter.
