Pavel Durov, the Russian-French billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening⁹. French media reported that he was detained in relation to an investigation about a lack of moderators on Telegram. The app has faced accusations of not cooperating with law enforcement over drug trafficking, child sexual content, and fraud¹³. Durov's lawyer called the charges "absolutely ridiculous" and an attack on freedom of speech¹³.
Telegram, with close to one billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine, and former Soviet Union states. It is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat
