00:15Mandatory Credit: WAM - Emirates News Agency
Pavel Durov, the CEO and founder of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday night as part of a preliminary police investigation, according to French media outlets.
Archive footage shows the Emirate-Russian tech billionaire meeting with Sheikh Hamdan, Crown Prince of Dubai, back in February 2021.
French reports claim Durov was arrested shortly after landing, having flown from Azerbaijan to the Bourget airport aboard his private jet.
The French OFMIN agency, which prevents violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov as part of an investigation into alleged offences, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and the promotion of terrorism on Telegram.
Telegram has not commented publicly on Durov's arrest at the time of publication. Meanwhile, Russia's representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, accused France of 'moving towards totalitarianism.'
Billionaire owner of social media platform X, Elon Musk, denounced Durov's detention, saying, "It's 2030 in Europe, and you're being executed for liking a meme." US House of Representatives member Marjorie Taylor-Green also claimed, "Freedom of speech is under attack around the world."
Detained Emirate-Russian Telegram founder Pavel Durov meets with Dubai’s crown prince *ARCHIVE STILLS*
Pavel Durov, the CEO and founder of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday night as part of a preliminary police investigation, according to French media outlets.
Archive footage shows the Emirate-Russian tech billionaire meeting with Sheikh Hamdan, Crown Prince of Dubai, back in February 2021.
French reports claim Durov was arrested shortly after landing, having flown from Azerbaijan to the Bourget airport aboard his private jet.
The French OFMIN agency, which prevents violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov as part of an investigation into alleged offences, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and the promotion of terrorism on Telegram.
Telegram has not commented publicly on Durov's arrest at the time of publication. Meanwhile, Russia's representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, accused France of 'moving towards totalitarianism.'
Billionaire owner of social media platform X, Elon Musk, denounced Durov's detention, saying, "It's 2030 in Europe, and you're being executed for liking a meme." US House of Representatives member Marjorie Taylor-Green also claimed, "Freedom of speech is under attack around the world."
Mandatory Credit: WAM - Emirates News Agency
Pavel Durov, the CEO and founder of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday night as part of a preliminary police investigation, according to French media outlets.
Archive footage shows the Emirate-Russian tech billionaire meeting with Sheikh Hamdan, Crown Prince of Dubai, back in February 2021.
French reports claim Durov was arrested shortly after landing, having flown from Azerbaijan to the Bourget airport aboard his private jet.
The French OFMIN agency, which prevents violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov as part of an investigation into alleged offences, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and the promotion of terrorism on Telegram.
Telegram has not commented publicly on Durov's arrest at the time of publication. Meanwhile, Russia's representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, accused France of 'moving towards totalitarianism.'
Billionaire owner of social media platform X, Elon Musk, denounced Durov's detention, saying, "It's 2030 in Europe, and you're being executed for liking a meme." US House of Representatives member Marjorie Taylor-Green also claimed, "Freedom of speech is under attack around the world."