Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Arrested in France: #FreeDurov Trending
Breaking! Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Arrested in France!
According to TF1 TV (A French local media), millionaire co-founder and chief executive of the Telegram messaging app Pavel Durov was arrested at the Bourget airport near Paris on Saturday night. An unidentified source was cited.
Durov was flying his private jet, TF1 stated on its website, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant issued in France.
Said to have been traveling from Azerbaijan, the 39-year-old was detained at roughly 8pm local time (6pm GMT).
Durov was scheduled for court on Sunday.
Living in Dubai, where Telegram is situated, the entrepreneur from Russia-born background enjoys dual citizenship of France and the United Arab Emirates.
Expected to have a fortune of $15.5 billion (£12 billion), Durov departed Russia in 2014 after declining to follow orders to dissolve opposition groups on his VK social media network, which he later sold.
Russia’s embassy in France is doing “immediate steps” to help to clear things.
Referring to a Russian embassy official in France, TASS said that although Durov’s team had not appealed to the embassy, it was acting pro-actively with “immediate” responses.
Why was Pavel Durov Arrested?
According to TF1, the 39-year-old Durov was arrested by France’s National Anti-Fraud Office over what the outlet stated were several charges linked to claimed criminal behavior by Telegram users that the service apparently refused to moderate. The report claims that this covers allegations related to encouraging terrorism, drug sales and pilfering of stolen goods, fraud, and more.
Who is Pavel Durov?
Message app Telegram, founded and owned by Pavel Durov, boasts more than 700 million monthly active users globally.
Free to use, Telegram faces competition from chat apps including WhatsApp of Facebook.
Durov departed Russia after turning down to assist the Russian secret agency with encrypted data of users of his first social network.
In 2017, Durov—who recently became a French citizen—moved Telegram and himself to Dubai.
Telegram has been a vital source of information since the start of the Ukraine war, and a lot of false information too, about the conflict.
In August 2021 Durov became a French citizen. According to French media, he transferred Telegram and himself to Dubai in 2017 and also acquired United Arab Emirates citizenship. Media accounts also indicate that he is a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis, a dual-island nation in the Caribbean.
Established in 2013, the texting software developed by Durov and brother Nikolai boasts almost 900 million active users.
Telegram provides end-to-end encrypted messaging and lets users create “channels” to rapidly share material to followers.
Since his arrest on Saturday, several Telegram and Crypto enthusiasts have taken to the internet the hashtag #FreeDurov showing their solidarity for Pavel Durov.
TON Price Falls by 17% following Pavel Durov’s Arrest in France
Arriving on his private jet from Azerbaijan, Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France late Saturday, citing to media sources. The price of Toncoin (TON)—the cryptocurrency of the Telegram-affiliated The Open Network—plunged drastically as the word traveled.
With a recent surge in users coinciding with the release of crypto-fueled games playable on the messaging app via integrated “mini apps,” Telegram’s user base lately topped the 950 million milestone Durov declared in July. The biggest of these, Hamster Kombat, has apparently attracted more than 300 million players in the last few months ahead of a token release and airdrop.
Originally developed inside Telegram, the company shelved the Open Network initiative in 2020 under regulatory review. Development proceeded outside under the direction of a community of contributors; during the past year, Telegram has embraced and incorporated the blockchain network more and more.
Although that intimate relationship seems to be hitting TON’s price hard Saturday, it has supposedly helped increase the price of TON by more than 300% over the past year. As of this writing, TON is down by around 17%. From a price of $6.80 before the reports hit to a current price of $5.61, CoinGecko shows.
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