French authorities reportedly arrest Telegram CEO Pavel Durov at a Paris airport

The founder and CEO of messaging service Telegram has been detained at a Paris airport on an arrest warrant, accusing his platform of being used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other crimes, French media reported Sunday.

Pavel Durov, who has dual French and Russian citizenship, was arrested at Paris-Le Bourget airport on Saturday evening after landing in France from Azerbaijan, broadcasters LCI and TF1 reported.

Detectives from the French Anti-Fraud Office, which is attached to French customs, informed 39-year-old Durov that he was being held by police, the broadcasters reported.

Durov’s representatives were not immediately available for comment.

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French prosecutors declined to comment on Durov’s arrest when contacted by the Associated Press news agency on Sunday, under the rules of an ongoing investigation.

French media reported that the arrest warrant for Durov was issued by France at the request of the country’s Interior Ministry’s special unit charged with investigating crimes against minors. These include online sexual exploitation, such as possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material and solicitation for sexual purposes.

Telegram was founded by Durov and his brother after the Russian government’s massive crackdown on pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow in late 2011 and 2012.

The protests prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital world, introducing rules that forced internet providers to block websites and mobile operators to store call logs and messages that could be shared with security services.

In an increasingly repressive environment, Telegram and its pro-privacy rhetoric provided a convenient way for Russians to communicate and share news. In 2018, Russia’s media watchdog Roskomnadzor decided to block Telegram over its refusal to hand over encryption keys, but ultimately failed to completely restrict access to the app.

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Telegram continued to be widely used, including by government agencies, and the ban was lifted two years later. In March 2024, Roskomnadzor said that Telegram cooperated to some extent with the Russian government and had removed more than 256,000 messages with prohibited content at Roskomnadzor’s request.

Telegram is still a popular news source in Ukraine, too. Both media and officials use it to share information about the war and to issue warnings about missiles and airstrikes.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.