Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested on Saturday as he departed from a private jet at Le Bourget airport outside Paris, multiple media outlets reported.
Reuters, citing French media sources, reported that the mysterious billionaire entrepreneur was arrested as part of a preliminary investigation into criminal activity on the instant messaging app. According to CBS News, the investigation focuses on posts on the platform that may contain illegal activities such as fraud, drug trafficking and organized crime, and Telegram is accused of not properly moderating such content.
CBS News reported that he is scheduled to appear in court Sunday.
Durov’s arrest comes amid growing international pressure on social media platforms to moderate content on their sites and apps. The European Union, of which France is a key member, recently implemented a Digital Services Act that requires big tech companies to strictly moderate illegal content on their platforms and imposes heavy fines on violators. Telegram has come under increased EU scrutiny over its moderation practices since its EU user base grew to 41 million this year, just shy of the 45 million the platform would need to reach to comply with DSA rules.
Telegram is a particularly influential social media platform in Ukraine and Russia, and a major source of information about the war between the two countries. The site has been repeatedly criticized for publishing explicit and misleading content about the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war. However, Telegram rarely shuts down channels without requests from law enforcement or regulators.
The Russian-born Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with Kremlin orders to shut down accounts of opposition groups on VKontakte, another social media platform he founded, Reuters reported. Durov sold his shares in VKontakte that same year.
“I’d rather be free than follow someone else’s orders,” Durov told Tucker Carlson in April about his decision to leave Russia.
A representative for Telegram did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
