Who is Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram arrested in Paris

Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested at Bourget Airport near Paris on Saturday, August 24. According to media reports, an arrest warrant was issued against him on charges of failing to moderate the messaging app, which facilitated illegal activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and pedophile content.

“Telegram complies with EU regulations, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is in line with industry standards and is continually improved,” Telegram said in a statement.

“Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and frequently travels around Europe. It is absurd to claim that the platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of the platform,” it added.

Who is Pavel Durov?

Pavel Durov was born in 1984 in the then Soviet Union. Born and raised in Russia, he graduated from the Philological Faculty of St. Petersburg State University in 2006.

Durov is the founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, a free platform that aims to surpass 1 billion monthly active users within the next year. He founded Telegram with his brother, Nikolai Durov, in 2013.

Durov’s fortune is estimated at $15.5 billion (as of August 26, 2024), and he is currently ranked 120th on the Forbes billionaires list.

The 19-year-old, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, left Russia in 2014, rejecting government demands to close down opposition communities on the social media platform VKontakte, which he founded and then sold.

Durov moved with Telegram to Dubai in 2017. Telegram was banned in Russia from 2018 to 2021. He reportedly took French citizenship in 2021, but lives in Dubai.

On leaving Russia, Durov told American journalist Tucker Carlson that he would rather be free than take orders from anyone. In the same interview, he also said that apart from money or Bitcoin, he did not own any major property such as real estate, jets or yachts because he wanted to be free.

Durav reportedly has five children with two ex-girlfriends. He recently claimed that he donated sperm, which led to him fathering 100 children.