A little less than one billion people use Telegram, making it one of the most downloaded applications on the entire globe. However, because the platform places a strong emphasis on security and anonymity, it is vulnerable to abuse by criminal organisations.
According to reports, Pavel Durov, the billionaire inventor of the encrypted messaging software Telegram, has been taken into custody in France.
Following the arrival of his private plane at Le Bourget airport, which is located on the outskirts of Paris, the technology leader, who is 39 years old, was reportedly held.
According to unnamed sources cited by the news channels BFMTV and TF1, the businessman, who was born in Russia and became a citizen of France in 2021, was the subject of a search order.
The probe appears to have been centred on the absence of moderators on Telegram as well as the possibility of illegal activities on the part of users, according to both sites.
In response to such allegations, neither the French police nor the Ministry of the Interior nor Telegram have provided a reply.
According to reports from the Russian state news agency TASS, the Russian embassy in France has requested that Durov be granted consular access and has been demanding that his rights be protected. According to the Russian embassy, France has “avoided engagement” on the problem with Durov up until this point, and Russian diplomats are currently in communication with his defence attorney.
It is anticipated that within the next year, Telegram will have close to one billion users, making it one of the most downloaded applications on the entire globe.
It provides end-to-end encryption, which effectively prevents data from being intercepted, and it places a significant emphasis on protecting users’ privacy rights.
Because of this focus, the app is popular among pro-democracy movements and other demonstrators in nations where the rules are particularly stringent.
Officials in both Moscow and Kiev frequently use it because of its status as a crucial source of information regarding Russia’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
It is considered to be one of the most important social media platforms and advertises that it has more than 950 million active users on a monthly basis.
Far-right extremists, for instance, who recently sparked riots in the United Kingdom over the stabbings that took place in Southport, have also used it for criminal activity.
Although it is not clear what Mr. Durov was arrested for, BFMTV said that the warrant was related to the possibility that the app was used for activities such as money laundering, drug trafficking, or the distribution of content that involved child sexual abuse.
Following the loss of control of his previous social media company, Vkontakte (VK), the mobile application’s founder, owner, and chief executive officer departed Russia in the year 2014.
He did not cooperate with the demands of the government to shut down opposition groups on the platform, and he refused to send over information about Ukrainian demonstrators to the security authorities.
During this time, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it was taking measures to “clarify” whether or not he had been arrested.
In addition to becoming a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Durov went through the process of naturalisation in France in August 2021.
According to a piece that Tucker Carlson, a commentator from the United States, wrote for X, he believes that Mr. Durov has been arrested in France because he has refused to “censor the truth.”
Mr. Durov stated that he was determined to keep Telegram “neutral” and “free from geopolitics” in an interview that took place in April with the American television personality.