Telegram’s Pavel Durov held in France for alleged distribution of child sex abuse material

French authorities said Monday that they had arrested Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov for failing to moderate illegal child abuse activity on the messaging app — the most dramatic action so far in the global fight between officials and tech companies over limits to harmful content.

Durov was being temporarily detained on suspicion of involvement with distributing child sex abuse material and drugs, money laundering and working with organized crime, according to a press statement released by French prosecutor Laure Beccuau.

The accusations also included improper use of cryptography, a flash point in the efforts by some governments to force companies to reveal private messages between users.

Durov, a Russian-born billionaire who lives in Dubai, was detained over the weekend at the Bourget airport outside Paris as he landed from Azerbaijan in his private jet, French TV channel TF1 said Saturday night. He is a dual citizen of the United Arab Emirates and France, according to his company.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that Durov’s arrest was part of an “ongoing judicial investigation,” and that politics had played no part in the arrest.

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