By The New Diplomat Political Desk
A Russian-French billionaire and founder/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Telegram, Patel Durov, has been reportedly apprehended by French police operatives in the late hours of Saturday.
According to reports, Durov was reportedly arrested at Le Bourget Airport, just outside Paris.
The CEO was said to have arrived in France in his private jet and was reportedly arrested and detained as part of an ongoing police investigation.
According to some local reports in France, the investigation is said to be on an alleged lack of content moderation on Telegram.
The French police operatives are reportedly probing allegations that Telegram has been allowing criminal activities to persist unchecked on the platform.
Telegram, an encrypted messaging service with nearly one billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet republics. It is considered one of the world’s major social media platforms, alongside Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat.
Durov, a Russian-born entrepreneur, founded the messaging app Telegram with his brother in 2013.
There have also been reports that since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 Telegram has allegedly been used as a source of unfiltered information from both sides of the conflict.
