Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has reportedly been arrested in France.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has reportedly been arrested in France on multiple charges related to his work on the social messaging platform. This comes with unverified accounts on social media and unverified press reports.
According to reports, Durov was arrested when the plane landed at Bourget airport outside Paris. He has been charged with terrorism, human trafficking, conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and more.
“This search warrant was issued if and only if Pavel Durov was in national territory,” French commercial television network TF1 reported, citing unnamed sources close to the case.
In addition, Durov said that he does not travel often in Europe and avoids countries where “Telegram is monitored”.
The Telegram-backed Toon cryptocurrency, which plunged more than 10 percent from $6.86 to $5.85 since its early August 24, but still unconfirmed, arrest.
Several celebrities around the world have publicly commented on the reports.
“Do you understand the gravity of what is happening? Pavel Durov really believes in free speech and has created a platform where the deep state cannot reach, so now they have arrested him,” said American analyst Candace Owens.
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“Pavel Durov sits in a French jail tonight as a living warning to any platform owner who wants to censor the truth at the behest of the government and intel agencies,” Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson told his 13.6 million X followers on Aug. 24. Post.
It comes shortly after Durov told Carlson on a podcast in April that increasing government surveillance is forcing the birth of secure communication tools inspired by cryptocurrency hardware wallets.
Durov said: “The world is becoming more idealistic. Governments are tolerating privacy.”
That's clearly the trend as they have more technological power, he added.
After press time, Toon released an official statement on X, but did not provide any details on the investigation.
“Following the recent news of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, we want to assure everyone that the Ton community is strong and fully operational,” Ton said on X.
“As committed to free speech and decentralization, we stand by Pavel in this challenging time,” he added.
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Update (August 25th and 2:03am UTC): This article has been updated to include Ton's official statement published on the X label.
