In a statement released on Monday night, the Paris prosecutor stated that Mr. Durov was being detained in connection with an inquiry into cybercrime. The statement listed twelve distinct offenses that were allegedly connected to organized crime and were currently under investigation.
The prosecutor listed these as illegal transactions, child pornography, fraud, and the unwillingness to provide information to law enforcement.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse of that platform,” according to a statement from Telegram.
Pavel Durov is who?
The 39-year-old multibillionaire Mr. Durov is a native of Russia.
He established the well-known Russian social media platform VKontakte.
After defying orders from the Kremlin to close down opposition communities on the platform, Mr. Durov departed Russia in 2014.
He started Telegram a year ago and currently operates the company from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he currently resides.
Despite having French and UAE citizenship, Russia has stated that it still considers him to be a citizen.
