(FILES) Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder of Telegram speaks onstage throughout day certainly one of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015 at Pier 70 on September 21, 2015 in San Francisco, California. | Photograph by Steve JENNINGS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP
PARIS, France — Russian-born tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov has based wildly standard social networks in addition to a cryptocurrency, amassed a multi-billion-dollar fortune and locked horns with authorities not simply in Russia however world wide.
Nonetheless just a few months shy of his fortieth birthday, the person as soon as dubbed the “Russian Zuckerberg” after Fb founder Mark Zuckerberg now finds himself below arrest in France after being sensationally detained at a Paris airport this weekend.
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Whereas nonetheless in his 20s, the Saint Petersburg native shot to fame in Russia after founding the VKontakte (VK) social community which catered to the wants of Russian-language customers and outgunned Fb all through the previous USSR.
After disputes with the Russian authorities and possession battles, he offered out of VKontakte and based a brand new messaging service known as Telegram which quickly gained traction however has additionally proved controversial with critics condemning an alleged lack of management on excessive content material.
As these dramas raged, Durov remained a mercurial and at instances mysterious determine, hardly ever giving interviews and limiting himself to generally enigmatic declarations made on Telegram.
A self-avowed libertarian, Durov has championed confidentiality on the Web and encryption in messaging.
He has defiantly refused to permit the moderation of messages on Telegram, which permits customers to submit video, photos and feedback on “channels” that may be adopted by anybody.
Durov, 39, was focused in France by a warrant over offences alleged to have been carried out on Telegram, starting from fraud to drug trafficking, cyberbullying and organised crime, together with selling terrorism and fraud.
Investigations have been entrusted to the cyber unit of the French gendarmerie and the nationwide anti-fraud workplace. He was nonetheless in police custody on Sunday, in line with two sources near the case.
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‘Thanks for all of the fish’
In 2006, having simply graduated from the College of Saint Petersburg, Durov launched VKontakte (VK), attracting customers even whereas its founder remained a shadowy determine.
In a stunt typical of his unpredictable behaviour, Durov in 2012 showered high-denomination notes on pedestrians from VK’s headquarters on prime of a historic bookstore on Saint Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospekt.
However after working into bother with the Kremlin for refusing at hand over the private knowledge of customers to the Russian safety providers (FSB), he offered out of the corporate and left Russia in 2014.
Durov resigned from VK with a typical flourish, posting an image of dolphins and the slogan “So Lengthy and Thanks for All of the Fish”, a title within the well-known “Hitchhiker’s Information to the Galaxy” science fiction sequence.
He developed the Telegram messaging service along with his brother Nikolai whereas travelling from nation to nation and launched the service in 2013.
He settled in Dubai and obtained citizenship of the Caribbean island archipelago of Saint Kitts and Nevis, then, in August 2021, received French nationality following a low-profile process about which Paris stays extremely discreet.
(FILES) An image taken on November 8, 2021 in Moscow exhibits the cellular messaging and name service Telegram brand on a smartphone display. | Photograph by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
In the meantime, Telegram loved stratospheric success, presenting itself as a champion of particular person freedoms, refusing “censorship” and defending the confidentiality of its customers.
This rankled with authorities, particularly in his residence nation and in 2018, a Moscow court docket ordered the blocking of the appliance. However the imposition of the measure was shambolic and three days later, protesters sarcastically bombarded the FSB headquarters with paper planes, the image of Telegram.
Since then, Russia has deserted its efforts to dam Telegram and the messaging service is utilized by each the Russian authorities and the opposition, with some channels boasting a number of hundred thousand subscribers.
Telegram additionally performs a key function in Russia’s battle in opposition to Ukraine, documented by bloggers from either side who submit their analyses and movies of the preventing.
Professional-Moscow channels run by so-called “Z-bloggers” who again the battle have proved massively influential and are generally important of Russian army technique.
‘Love the privateness’
Durov eschews conventional media interviews however in April sat down with ultra-conservative US journalist Tucker Carlson for an intensive dialogue.
Individuals “love the independence. In addition they love the privateness, the liberty, (there are) numerous the reason why anyone would change to Telegram,” Durov instructed Carlson.
He’s additionally not shy of posting messages on his personal Telegram channel, claiming to steer a solitary life, abstaining from meat, alcohol and even espresso. At all times wearing black, he cultivates a resemblance to the actor Keanu Reeves within the movie “Matrix”.
In July, he boasted of being the organic father of greater than 100 youngsters due to his sperm donations in a dozen international locations, describing this as a “civic responsibility” in an angle to parenting that echoes that of a fellow tech mogul, the X and Tesla chief Elon Musk.
In keeping with Forbes journal’s newest estimate, Durov’s fortune is $15.5 billion. However toncoin, the cryptocurrency he created, has plummeted by greater than 15 p.c for the reason that announcement of his arrest.
Telegram has lengthy been within the sights of European judicial authorities over allegations it spreads conspiracy theories, shared requires homicide and hosts drug gross sales platforms. Durov, nevertheless, insists that he responds to each request to take away content material calling for violence or homicide.
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