The billionaire and president of Telegram flies to Paris and is promptly arrested
Investigations are underway in France for numerous crimes in Pavel Duro’s network. Nevertheless, he flew casually on a private jet on Saturday. Why?
He brags that he doesn’t censor anyone on Telegram — not even those who vilify terrorism: Pavel Turo in a post in 2015.
Photo: Steve Jennings (AFP)
Why? Yes, why? People in France are wondering why Pavel Durov, the founder and head of Telegram, the Russian diplomatic service who mostly lives in Dubai, flew to France of all places on Saturday evening. He wasn’t hiding, and not through the back door: his private jet touched down at Le Bourget, near Paris, a small, exclusive airport for business travelers. And the officers stood there and took away the 39-year-old multi-billionaire.
So in a sense he flew straight into the arms of the justice system. Why?
Le Bourget, near Paris, is a small, dedicated airport for business travelers (code image).
Photo: AFP
Preliminary investigations are underway in France against Pavel Duro. Investigators are debating the question of whether he is partially responsible if he does not control and prevent illegal content exchanged and negotiated on his allegedly uncensored platform.
Why shouldn’t he check too?
It is about a whole series of crimes: glorification of terrorism, pedo pornography, drug trafficking, fraud, organized crime. Telegram is also used to spread conspiracy theories, fake news and of course political propaganda.
Duro, through its encrypted services, likes to offer the world the only digital platform where users can truly express their opinions – now there are nearly a billion of them. Under no circumstances will he reveal their identity. Clashes with the authorities, particularly the West, have been going on for some time. Why shouldn’t Telegram be subject to the same rules as other services and platforms?
Sometimes with Putin, sometimes against
Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai were born in what was then Leningrad. They spent part of their childhood in Turin, where their father had a job. After studying in St. Petersburg, the brothers founded the social network “VKontakte” in 2006, now Vk.com, similar to the Russian Facebook, which they later sold for a lot of money. In 2013, Telegram was launched as a response to WhatsApp.
The Kremlin was not always immediately impressed by the Drows’ sites. Pavel Durov wanted to present himself as a liberal, a libertarian and an opponent of Vladimir Putin. However, Telegram has now long been pro-Moscow because many of the conspiratorial and often right-wing extremist forces attacking Western governments only exchange views there with their propaganda (read here Background text on Russian disinformation in Switzerland)
“A big user of the app,” as “Le Monde” calls him: French President Emmanuel Macron.
Photo: AFP
As of 2021, Durov holds Russian citizenship and French citizenship in addition to the Caribbean island state and tax haven of St. Kitts and Nevis.
A year ago, “Le Monde” published a long investigation. It appears that Pavel Durov did not meet any of the requirements that France normally sets for naturalization. Although he always loved staying in beautiful villas on the Côte d’Azur and expensive hotels in Paris, he did not settle down for at least several years. According to his own statements, he lives alone, but is the biological father of more than 100 children in 12 countries.
The only option left for rapid naturalization was to qualify for citizenship as an “étranger émerité,” meaning “excellent foreigner”—someone who had contributed to the appeal of the French in the world. Athletes may soon receive French passports.
But what are Duro’s merits? He apparently does not speak very good French, which may identify him as a francophone diplomat. Élysée loved the request «the world» Don’t answer. All we know about President Emmanuel Macron is that he is a “big user of the app,” as the newspaper puts it.
Now? The French judiciary will have to decide whether to charge this citizen – who flew in a private jet as if he had nothing to fear.
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