What to know about Telegram, the messaging app whose CEO was arrested over the weekend

The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France over the weekend has thrust the popular messaging service and its enigmatic founder into the spotlight.

The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France over the weekend has thrust the popular messaging service and its enigmatic founder into the spotlight.

Russian-born Durov was detained Saturday at Paris’s Bourget Airport on a warrant related to Telegram’s lack of moderation.

Those charges include allegations that his platform was complicit in aiding fraudsters, money launders, drug traffickers and people spreading child sexual exploitation content, French prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement Monday. Beccuau added that Durov is accused of refusing to communicate “information or documents” related to the investigation.

The app has also recently come under scrutiny for its use by terrorist groups and far-right extremists.

Durov’s arrest has sparked a debate about freedom of speech and who has responsibility for illicit content on the internet. Russian lawmaker Maria Butina — who was convicted in the US on spying charges and deported to Russia in 2019 — on Sunday called the CEO a “political prisoner,” according to Reuters.

But French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement posted to X on Monday that Durov’s arrest was “in no way a political decision.”

“I’m reading false information about France following the arrest of Pavel Durov,” Macron said, adding that the arrest “took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation.”