CEO of messaging app Telegram arrested in France, Russia strongly condemns

Telegram, which is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and many other countries around the world , ranks as one of the largest social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat. The messaging platform aims to reach one billion users next year.

Based in Dubai, Telegram was founded by Durov, a Russian native who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down several opposition groups on the social network VK, which he sold.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov. Photo: AP

TF1 said on its website that Durov was traveling on his private jet, adding that he had been detained in France during a police investigation.

French broadcasters TF1 and BFM both said the investigation focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, which police believe has allowed criminal activity to go unchecked on the messaging app.

TF1 said Durov had traveled from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. Telegram, the French Interior Ministry and French police have not yet responded to requests for comment on the incident.

Telegram has become a preferred means of communication for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his officials. Some Russian officials and state agencies also use it to post information on the platform, particularly about the war in Ukraine.

Durov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, said some countries had sought to pressure him but the app, which now has 900 million active users, should remain a "neutral platform" and not "a factor in geopolitics ".

The Russian embassy in France told Russia's state news agency TASS that it had not received contact from Durov's group following reports of the arrest, but was taking "immediate" steps to clarify the situation.

Russia's representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, and several other Russian politicians were quick to accuse France of acting like a dictatorship.

"Some naive people still do not understand that if they play a more or less prominent role in the international information space, it is not safe to visit countries that are moving towards a more totalitarian society," Ulyanov wrote on X.

Several Russian bloggers have called for protests at French embassies around the world on Sunday.

Hoang Anh (according to TASS, Reuters, AP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/ceo-ung-dung-nhan-tin-telegram-bi-bat-tai-phap-nga-len-an-manh-me-post309151.html