An investigating judge on Sunday in France extended the detention of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, local media reported, citing sources close to the case. The judge issued the order after taking a statement from Durov, who was arrested on Saturday night after landing on a private plane from Azerbaijan at Le Bourget airport, north of Paris.
The Russian billionaire, who lives in Dubai, is the subject of several legal proceedings in France for failing to act to prevent organised crime on his social network and for failing to cooperate with the authorities investigating such crimes. The lack of moderators on the platform, where drug trafficking, cryptocurrency fraud and terrorism are common, is at the heart of the arrest of Durov, originally from St. Petersburg and with dual French-Russian nationality.
“Police custody will continue on Monday, … and could last up to four days,” Franceinfo reported, as quoted by Reuters. French authorities have not yet officially confirmed Durov’s arrest. A police source told Reuters that Durov was arrested because he was subject to an arrest warrant. A gendarmerie cybersecurity unit and the national anti-fraud police unit are leading the investigation, the source said.
“Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and frequently travels around Europe. It is absurd that a platform or its owner should be held responsible for abuses on its platform,” the company said in a statement.
“We hope for a swift resolution to this situation,” the company added, saying that in addition to its messages being secure due to their encryption, it does not collect or disclose information about its users. Telegram assured that the company complies with EU regulations and that its moderation system “is in line with industry standards and is constantly improving.”
Dubai-based Telegram was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he later sold.
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Durov, who is worth $15.5 billion (almost 14 billion euros) according to Forbes, said some governments had tried to put pressure on him, but that the app, which already has 900 million active users, should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics.”
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