The thirty-nine-year-old French-Russian billionaire Pavel Durovfounder and CEO of the encrypted messaging service Telegramwill be questioned by the French justice after his arrest last night at the airport Le Bourgetnear Paris. Second Tf1 And Lci, Pavel Durov He was taken into custody on the basis of a warrant from the French justice system, which considers that the lack of restraint, cooperation with the police and the tools offered by Telegram (disposable number, cryptocurrencies, etc.) make it complicit in drug trafficking, crimes against minors and fraud. The warrant was valid only for French territory. The investigators of theOnaf (National Anti-Fraud Office dependent on Customs) informed him and placed him in police custody. Durov should be brought before the investigating judge in the next few hours, before a possible referral to trial for a multitude of crimes: “Terrorism, drugs, complicity, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods, juvenile criminal content”, according to what was stated by Tf1. A source further stated that «Durov he will certainly be placed in pretrial detention.”
Pavel Durov leaves Russia and founds Telegram
Born October 10, 1984 in St. Petersburg, Pavel Durov he moved at a young age to Turin for his father’s work, a Latin scholar and university professor of classical philology. He attended compulsory school and spent almost all his youth in Italybefore returning, in 2001, to Russia and enroll in the academic gymnasium. Pavel Durovwho has a libertarian vision of politics and economics, made himself known already in 2006, when, having just graduated with honors with a thesis in philology at theSt. Petersburg University (Russia), launched the social network VKontakte (VK), quickly became the leading Russian social network ahead of Facebook, earning him the nickname “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia”.
Telegram: Growth and Legal Challenges
With his brother Nicholas, Paul worked on the development of the messaging service Telegram – launched in 2013 – while traveling from one country to another, he then settled in Dubai and obtained citizenship of the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis. He donated 250 thousand dollars to the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation of the country and securing $300 million in cash inside Swiss banks. In August 2021, he also obtained French nationality through a rare procedure on which Paris remains very discreet.
Telegram and its global impact
In the meantime Telegram has had a meteoric success – today 900 million users – proposing itself as a champion of individual freedoms, of the rejection of “censorship” and of the privacy of its users. But this was not the case: in 2018 a court of Fly ordered the application to be blocked. It was a fiasco and three days later protesters ironically bombed the headquarters of theFsb with paper airplanes, symbol of Telegram. Since then, the Russia has abandoned its efforts and the messaging service is used by both the government and the opposition, with some “channels” having several hundred thousand subscribers. Telegram is also playing a key role in the war in Ukrainedocumented by bloggers on both sides who publish their analyses and countless videos of the fighting.
Pavel Durov’s private life
Absent from mainstream media, Pavel Durov However, he does not hesitate to introduce himself on his page Telegramclaiming to lead a solitary life, abstaining from meat and alcohol. Always dressed in black, he calls himself a Taoist and cultivates his resemblance to the actor Keanu Reeves in the movie «Matrix». He is not married, has two children and a partner, Darya Bondarenkostudied like him at theSt. Petersburg University. Last July he boasted that he was the biological father of more than 100 children thanks to his sperm donations in a dozen countries. A “civic duty”, he said, which brings him closer to the pro-natalist movement to which they belong Elon Musk and several tech billionaires. According to the magazine Forbesthe fortune of Pavel Durov in 2024 it is estimated at 15.5 billion dollars (13.38 billion euros), but the toncointhe cryptocurrency he created, has fallen more than 15% since the announcement of his arrest. (AGI)
Telegram and Legal Controversies in Europe
Spreading conspiracy theories, calling for murder and providing a platform for drug dealing: Telegram has been in the crosshairs of European judicial authorities for years. Pavel Durovhowever, insists on responding to every request to remove content that incites violence or murder. Many experts also remain skeptical about the real security offered by Telegram. While the platform claims to be “more secure than mass messaging services like WhatsApp», does not encrypt messages by default, unlike the controlled Facebook. And the platform has regularly cooperated with judicial authorities: in 2022, threatened with blocking by the Brazilian Supreme Court, Telegram agreed to close accounts accused of misinformation. In the same year, the Germany welcomed “constructive” discussions with the messaging service, which is popular among local far-right and anti-vax activists.