He is one of the world’s richest people, often dubbed the “Russian Mark Zuckerberg” – following his arrest in France, here is everything you need to know about Telegram founder Pavel Durov.
Billionaire Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested after arriving in France on his private jet at the weekend.
He was reportedly the subject of a search warrant, with French news outlets suggesting an investigation focused on a lack of moderators on the encrypted messaging app and potential criminal activity by users.
Telegram is one of the most downloaded apps in the world.
But who is the man behind it – and how does the app work?
‘Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg’
Born in Russia, Pavel Durov is the founder and owner of Telegram – a free-to-use messaging app that competes with other platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and TikTok.
His fortune is currently estimated by Forbes at $15.5bn (£11.7bn) – making him the 120th richest person in the world – and he is sometimes dubbed “Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg”.
The 39-year-old left the country in 2014, a year after Telegram was launched, after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on VKontakte – an earlier social media platform he had founded with his brother, and later sold.
He moved to Dubai in 2017 and became a French citizen in August 2021.
Telegram’s popularity has led to rise in scrutiny