Who’s Pavel Durov and what’s his app?

Pavel Durov, the CEO of messaging app Telegram, has been arrested in France.

On Monday night, the Paris prosecutor mentioned in an announcement that Mr Durov was being held in custody as a part of a cyber-crime investigation. The assertion talked about 12 totally different offences beneath investigation that it mentioned have been linked to organised crime.

These included illicit transactions, baby pornography, fraud and the refusal to reveal data to authorities, the prosecutor mentioned.

Telegram mentioned in an announcement that “it’s absurd to assert {that a} platform or its proprietor is accountable for abuse of that platform”.

Mr Durov, 39, is a multi-billionaire who’s initially from Russia.

He based the favored Russian social media firm VKontakte.

In 2014, Mr Durov left Russia after refusing to adjust to authorities calls for to close down opposition communities on the platform.

A yr earlier, he had based Telegram and now runs the agency from Dubai within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) the place he now lives.

He holds citizenship of the UAE and France, however Russia has mentioned it nonetheless regards him as a citizen.

Telegram mentioned Mr Durov travels in Europe often.

In an interview with the conservative US media persona Tucker Carlson in April, Mr Durov mentioned he would refuse sure requests from authorities to take away content material from his platform.

He mentioned: “The place we thought it could be crossing the road – it would not be aligning with our values of freedom of speech and defending individuals’s personal correspondence – we’d ignore.”

Telegram is likely one of the world’s largest social media and messaging platforms together with Fb, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat.

In July, Mr Durov claimed that Telegram reached 950 million month-to-month energetic customers. It’s well-liked in Russia and Ukraine, whereas pro-democracy teams in Iran and Hong Kong additionally use it.

Telegram does provide encryption, which implies the messages can solely be learn on the gadget that sends them and the gadget that receives them, however this isn’t the default setting for the person.

The large distinction between Telegram and comparable companies like WhatsApp is the scale of teams you will be in on Telegram.

WhatsApp limits group sizes to 1,000 customers whereas as much as 200,000 will be in a gaggle on Telegram.

The platform has confronted criticism that disinformation can unfold in these enormous teams.

Critics have argued the platform has seen the sharing of conspiracist, neo-Nazi, paedophilic, or terror-related content material.

Within the UK, the app was scrutinised for internet hosting far-right channels that have been instrumental in organising this month’s violent dysfunction in English cities and cybersecurity specialists say its moderation of extremist and unlawful content material is considerably weaker than different social media corporations and messenger apps.

Following Mr Durov’s arrest, Telegram mentioned its moderation “is inside business requirements and continuously bettering”.

It mentioned it abides by European Union legal guidelines, together with the Digital Providers Act, which goals to make sure a protected and accountable on-line surroundings.

“Virtually a billion customers globally use Telegram as technique of communication and as a supply of significant data,” the app’s assertion learn.

“We’re awaiting a immediate decision of this case. Telegram is with you all.”

Earlier than particulars began to emerge from French authorities about Mr Durov’s arrest, a number of outstanding figures have been commenting on his detention.

Elon Musk posted #FreePavel on X together with a clip of the Telegram founder speaking to Carlson about adjustments the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire had made after buying the positioning previously generally known as Twitter.

Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who now lives in Russia after revealing intensive web and telephone surveillance by US intelligence, mentioned on X that Mr Durov’s arrest “is an assault on the essential human rights of speech and affiliation”.

He added: “I’m shocked and deeply saddened that [French President Emmanuel] Macron has descended to the extent of taking hostages as a method for getting access to personal communications. It lowers not solely France, however the world.”

After some particulars of the arrest had emerged, Vyacheslav Volodin – a outstanding Russian politician and ally of Vladimir Putin – accused the US of being behind the arrest of Mr Durov.

“Telegram is one of the few and at the similar time the largest web platforms over which the United States has no affect,” he mentioned in a submit on the platform.

President Macron posted on social media on Monday that he had seen “false data” relating to France following Mr Durov’s arrest, and added: “That is on no account a political determination. It’s as much as the judges to resolve.”