Russian-born tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov has founded wildly popular social networks as well as a cryptocurrency, amassed a multi-billion dollar fortune, and caught the eye of authorities not only in Russia but around the world.
Just months before his 40th birthday, the man once dubbed the “Russian Zuckerberg” after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is now under arrest in France after he was spectacularly arrested at a Paris airport this weekend.
While still in his 20s, the St. Petersburg native rose to prominence in Russia after founding the social network VKontakte (VK) that catered to the needs of Russian-speaking users and surpassed Facebook throughout the former USSR.
After disputes with Russian authorities and ownership battles, he sold VKontakte and founded a new messaging service called Telegram, which quickly gained traction but also proved controversial with critics decrying its alleged lack of control over extreme content.
Telegram chief Pavel Durov was arrested at the French airport
As these dramas raged, Durov remained a plumb and sometimes mysterious figure, rarely giving interviews and limiting himself to sometimes cryptic statements made on Telegram.
A self-described libertarian, Durov has championed Internet privacy and encryption in messaging.
He defiantly refused to allow moderation of messages on Telegram, which allows users to post videos, photos and comments to “channels” that anyone can watch.
Durov, 39, was targeted in France on a warrant for offenses allegedly carried out on Telegram, ranging from fraud to drug trafficking, cyberbullying and organized crime, including promoting terrorism and fraud.
The investigations have been entrusted to the electronic unit of the French gendarmerie and the national anti-fraud agency. He was still in custody Sunday, according to two sources close to the case.
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“Thanks for all the fish”
In 2006, fresh out of St. Petersburg University, Durov launched VKontakte (VK), attracting users even while its founder remained a shadowy figure.
In an acrobatic display of his unpredictable behavior, Durov in 2012 dropped high-value notes to pedestrians from VK’s headquarters above a historic bookstore on St. Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospekt.
But after running into trouble with the Kremlin for refusing to hand over users’ personal data to the Russian security services (FSB), he sold the company and left Russia in 2014.
Durov resigned from VK with a typical flourish, posting a photo of dolphins and the slogan “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish”, a title in the famous science fiction series “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.
He developed the Telegram messaging service with his brother Nikolai while traveling from country to country and launched the service in 2013.
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He settled in Dubai and acquired citizenship of the Caribbean island archipelago of Saint Kitts and Nevis, then in August 2021, gained French citizenship in a low-profile process that Paris remains highly discreet about.
Meanwhile, Telegram has enjoyed stratospheric success, presenting itself as a champion of individual liberties, refusing “censorship” and protecting the privacy of its users.
This angered the authorities, especially in his home country, and in 2018, a Moscow court ordered the application blocked. But enforcement of the measure was murky, and three days later, protesters ironically bombed the FSB headquarters with paper airplanes, Telegram’s symbol.
Russia has since abandoned its efforts to block Telegram, and the messaging service is used by both the Russian government and the opposition, with some channels boasting several hundred thousand subscribers.
Telegram also plays a key role in Russia’s war against Ukraine, documented by bloggers on both sides posting their analysis and videos of the fighting.
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Pro-Moscow channels run by so-called “Z-bloggers” who support the war have proven to be hugely influential and sometimes critical of Russian military strategy.
“I love privacy”
Durov avoids traditional media interviews, but in April he sat down with ultraconservative American journalist Tucker Carlson for a lengthy discussion.
People “love independence. They also love privacy, freedom, (there are) many reasons why someone would switch to Telegram,” Durov told Carlson.
He is also not shy about posting messages on his own Telegram channel, declaring that he lives a solitary life, abstaining from meat, alcohol and even coffee. Always dressed in black, he bears a resemblance to the actor Keanu Reeves in the movie “Matrix”.
In July, he boasted that he was the biological father of more than 100 children thanks to his sperm donations in a dozen countries, describing it as a “civic duty” in an attitude to parenting that echoes that of fellow tech tycoon X and O head of Tesla, Elon Musk.
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According to the latest estimate by Forbes magazine, Durov’s fortune is $15.5 billion. But toncoin, the cryptocurrency he created, has plummeted more than 15 percent since his arrest was announced.
Telegram has long been targeted by European judicial authorities for allegedly spreading conspiracy theories, joint calls for murder and hosting drug-selling platforms. Durov, however, insists that he responds to any request to remove content that calls for violence or murder.
Source: AFP