The CEO of messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been arrested in France, French media reported on Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) – Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, was arrested late on Saturday at Bourget airport outside Paris, TF1 TV and BFM TV said, citing unnamed sources.

Durov was traveling on his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding that he was the subject of an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation.

Both TF1 and BFM said the investigation focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram and that police believed this allowed criminal activity to continue unchecked on the messaging app.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French interior ministry and police did not comment.

TF1 said Durov was traveling from Azerbaijan and was arrested around 20:00 (18:00 GMT).

Dubai-based Telegram was founded by Russian-born Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold -a.

Durov, who Forbes estimates is worth $15.5 billion, said some governments have tried to pressure him, but the app, which now has 900 million active users, should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics”. .