PARIS — Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, according to reports from TF1 TV and BFM TV citing unnamed sources.

Durov, who was traveling aboard his private jet from Azerbaijan, was reportedly targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation into Telegram's lack of moderation, which authorities believe has enabled criminal activity on the platform.

Telegram, widely used in Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet republics, has become a major social media platform, particularly in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The app, founded by Durov in Dubai after he left Russia in 2014, has nearly 900 million active users and aims to reach one billion users in the next year.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has served as a primary source of unfiltered content about the war, often featuring graphic and misleading information. It has also become the preferred communication platform for both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian government officials.

Durov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, has resisted pressure from various governments to moderate content on the app, insisting that Telegram should remain a "neutral platform" rather than a "player in geopolitics."

The Russian embassy in France is reportedly taking "immediate" steps to clarify the situation following Durov's arrest.

Meanwhile, several Russian politicians and bloggers have condemned France's actions, accusing the country of totalitarian behavior and calling for protests at French embassies worldwide. — Agencies