The chief executive officer and founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was arrested by French authorities over the weekend for suspected infractions at the messaging service. He will find out on Wednesday if he will face charges or potentially be placed under remand in custody.
The 39-year-old Durov was taken into custody at Le Bourget airport south of Paris late on Saturday. Although the court authorities have prolonged his original custody period multiple times, it is only allowed to last for 96 hours.
According to sources close to the investigation, Durov is being looked into for 12 offences connected to his failure to stop extremist content on Telegram as part of a confidential probe that was launched on July 8.
Ten years ago, as he was preparing to leave his home country of Russia, the computer magnate established Telegram. With over 900 million users, the app has experienced exponential growth in its user base.
Durov is a mysterious man who doesn’t often speak in public. He is a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, France, and Russia, where Telegram is headquartered.
Forbes magazine pegs his net worth at $15.5 billion, despite the fact that he loudly extols the benefits of leading an austere lifestyle that forgoes coffee and ice cream.
The timing and conditions of Durov’s arrest have drawn a lot of attention; most notably, why did he appear to be aware that a warrant had been issued for his arrest before boarding the flight into Paris?
