On a May day in 2012, paper planes start raining over St. Petersburg's main street, Nevskij prospekt.
A few floors up, Pavel Durov, then 28, hangs out of a window and looks amused as an excited crowd discovers that the planes are folded into 5,000-ruble notes – worth around 500 kronor.
At this point, Durov is the CEO of his first creation: VKontakte, a Russian Facebook copy that has grown rapidly due to its almost complete lack of regulation and moderation in authoritarian Russia.
But when the power in Moscow begins to demand influence in 2014, in the wake of the invasion of Crimea and regime-critical protests at home, the founder sells his share and flees the country. Together with his older brother Nikolaj – according to rumor the brothers' true genius – he founds the encrypted messaging service Telegram.
Father to 100 children
Pavel Durov, who has been locked up in a French prison since the weekend, portrays himself as a champion of freedom of speech and individual freedom from the state. The allegations against him concern precisely that: the obscure, criminal content that is allowed on Telegram in the name of censorship-free speech, including child abuse material, drug and weapons trade, and calls to violence and terrorism.
Before his arrest, Durov – who reportedly holds citizenship in France and the United Arab Emirates, but possibly also Russia and Saint Kitts and Nevis – led a relatively reclusive life. What is known about his private life paints a picture of a extremely wealthy, eccentric man: private jets, infinity pools, exotic destinations. Always dressed in black, he lives alone and abstains from meat, coffee, and alcohol. In July, he claimed to have fathered over 100 children through sperm donations.
According to Forbes' latest estimate, Durov has a fortune of around 15.5 billion dollars.
Met Putin?
Since his arrest, there are many question marks. Not least, it is a mystery what the 39-year-old was doing in France, when he likely knew he was wanted.
Questions also abound about his relationship to his homeland. In recent years, Telegram has, on unclear grounds, restricted several Russian opposition channels, writes Politico, leading to speculation about Durov's connections to the power in the Kremlin. When the tech billionaire was arrested in Paris on Saturday, his private jet had just landed from Azerbaijan, where Russia's President Vladimir Putin was at the time.
The Kremlin has denied that the two met in Baku.
The messaging service Telegram was launched in 2013 by brothers Nikolaj and Pavel Durov.
Currently, it has, according to its own statement, more than 950 million users.
The service is cloud-based and allows users to send and receive encrypted messages, images, videos, and other types of data files. Users can also send messages to an unlimited number of recipients via so-called Telegram channels.
Telegram is used by government representatives in several countries and has, among other things, been a frequently used information source during Russia's war in Ukraine. Not least, accounts belonging to pro-Russian military bloggers have gained enormous spread.
In countries with strict internet censorship, the app has functioned as a way to circumvent restrictions – for example, Telegram was used to coordinate regime-critical protests in Iran in 2022.
At the same time, the service's encryption capabilities and lack of moderation have made it popular among more shady actors, such as drug dealers and pedophiles.
