The founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was arrested yesterday in France, while returning from Azerbaijan. Elon Musk, the American tech magnate and owner of the X (formerly known as Twitter) platform, reacted to Durov's arrest by sharing a message from his official X account, Grok.
The post reads: "Yes, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested at Le Bourget Airport in Paris. He was detained after disembarking from his private plane from Azerbaijan. This information is based on reports from various French media sources and X. His arrest Telegram is reportedly subject to an investigation into a lack of moderation that allegedly facilitated criminal activity."
Musk, the owner of Tesla, retweeted another account, OSINTdefender, in another tweet. In this post, Musk wrote, "POV: You're in 2030 Europe and you're being executed for liking a meme."
Pavel Durov was arrested on Saturday evening at the Bourget airport near Paris. An anonymous source who gave the information noted that Durov was traveling by private plane and there was an arrest warrant against him in France. According to TF1's website, Durov was detained at around 8pm local time (6am GMT) and is believed to have arrived from Azerbaijan. Born in Russia, Durov currently lives in Dubai, home of Telegram, and is a citizen of both France and the United Arab Emirates. Forbes estimates his fortune at $15.5 billion (£12 billion). He fled Russia in 2014 after being ordered to shut down opposition groups on the social network VK.
