The founder of Telegram was arrested in France, attracting widespread attention

On the evening of August 24 local time, Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the social media platform Telegram, was arrested in France.

Durov, 40 years old, was born in Russia and now lives in Dubai. He holds multiple nationalities including Russian, French, and Emirati. He became a French citizen in 2021. Inspired by Facebook, he founded the social platform VK in 2006 and later founded Telegram in 2013. Currently, VK has become the largest social media platform in Russia. Telegram has a huge user base in countries such as Russia and Ukraine. It is also one of the main social platforms for Russian media and Russian-speaking users. It plans to reach 1 billion users next year. According to Forbes' estimation, Durov's net worth is as high as $15.5 billion.

The French authorities said that the reason for this arrest operation is that the lack of supervision of the platform has led to a large number of criminal activities including the spread of false information and hate speech. French TF1 television reported that Durov may face multiple charges including terrorism, money laundering, and drug trafficking, and may face up to 20 years in prison.

After the news of Durov's arrest spread, the crypto token Toncoin closely related to Telegram once plunged by more than 20%. Russia is highly concerned about this incident. Russian State Duma Deputy Chairman Davankov called on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to try to rescue Durov in the early morning of the 25th. He said that he has sent a corresponding request to Foreign Minister Lavrov. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that the Russian Embassy in France has taken necessary measures to understand the situation related to Durov.

This incident has also attracted widespread attention and discussion internationally. The specific reasons for Durov's arrest and the subsequent impact still need to be further observed and understood. As a social application with extensive influence, the experience of Telegram's founder will also have an important impact on the future development of the platform.