Arrest of Telegram creator Pavel Durov. How it happened and what is known so far

On August 24, Pavel Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport immediately after arriving in the French capital. The creator of Telegram is facing many charges, from the distribution of banned substances to calls for illegal actions. We are talking about his unwillingness to delete messages in the messenger and provide private data to law enforcement agencies, which the criminals took advantage of. Our article contains all the official information about this situation.

Initially, Pavel Durov was known as the creator of VKontakte. The social network was launched on October 1, 2006 as a closed platform, but by the end of that year, anyone could register on it. The site quickly gained popularity and now it is the most popular social network in Russia. True, Durov has had nothing to do with it since December 2013. At that time, he sold his share of shares in VKontakte and focused on another project – Telegram. Over the past ten years, this messenger has become one of the most popular in the world. The main reasons are the ease of use in communicating and obtaining information in communities, availability on any platform and free distribution. Telegram has paid subscriptions, but they offer only additional features. Basic functionality is available to everyone.

You can also note Pavel’s work with cryptocurrencies. In particular, he launched the Toncoin (TON – Telegram Open Network) blockchain project and actively supported the NOT cryptocoin, which was distributed via the Notcoin clicker in his messenger.

You can also recall Durov’s eccentric antics. For example, in May 2012, he, together with top managers of VKontakte, threw paper airplanes made of five thousand dollar bills out of the window. And in 2017, in response to a request to take a selfie, Pavel grabbed the phone of blogger Danila Kashin and threw the smartphone from the fourth floor.

VKontakte, Telegram and other areas of activity brought Durov a lot of money. If his fortune reached 7.9 billion rubles in 2011, then by 2024 it will increase to 15.5 billion dollars. He currently ranks 122nd among the richest people in the world on the Forbes list.

Telegram was presented from the very beginning as an anonymous messenger that does not store user data, but simply transfers it from one person to another. In reality, everything is more complicated. In short, it will not be difficult for messenger administrators to find out the recipient and all the information about what he sent. However, the declared anonymity has made Telegram popular among people who are engaged in illegal activities and also deliberately spread false information. For this, disposable numbers are used. In addition, the messenger has encrypted channels, as well as the ability to distribute cryptocurrency.

From time to time, the Telegram team fights against illegal sources, but this does not happen often and a person can create a new channel without any problems. However, the main point is that Pavel Durov has repeatedly stated that he is not ready to cooperate with the intelligence services, regardless of which state they represent.

In March 2024, the number of people using Telegram reached 900 million people. The goal is to reach the milestone of one billion users by 2025.

But if in Russia almost everyone uses Telegram, from mothers of many children to university teachers, then in European countries people often consider it as a kind of analogue of the Darknet, that is, the illegal part of the Internet. That is why in many countries Telegram is under close surveillance by the police and other law enforcement agencies. Interestingly, Durov himself stated that he does not want to visit countries where his messenger is closely monitored. This includes France, where the man was declared persona non grata. Why he decided to visit her at the end of this summer remains unclear.

On August 24 at 8:00 p.m. local time (or 10:00 p.m. Moscow time), Pavel Durov flew from Azerbaijan to France on a private plane. He was arrested by the Air Transport Gendarmerie right on the tarmac at Le Bourget Airport. He was accused of complicity in the trafficking of harmful substances, crimes against children, terrorism, money laundering and fraud. All of these actions were carried out by other people using the Telegram messenger. In total, Pavel risks a prison sentence of twenty years. Since 2021, Durov has been a French citizen, so extradition to another country is out of the question. However, there is a possibility that the United Arab Emirates, where Pavel recently lived, will intervene in the situation.

It is important to clarify here that the trial against Durov has not yet taken place and the jury’s decision may not correspond to the wishes of the prosecutor. According to lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky, this is a form of intimidation and Pavel will be released in a few days. However, searches are already taking place on the territory of the French real estate of the creator of Telegram. And police sources report that Durov will definitely remain in prison.

Immediately after the news about Durov’s detention, online users began to post memes and cartoons with his participation. However, this time we decided not to include them in the article, because we are not talking about a funny situation here, but about the possible deprivation of a person’s freedom. Therefore, the material instead contains statements by famous people on this issue.