Billionaire Pavel Durov made his fortune building two influential social media giants with close links to Russia. Now, his tech legacy is under threat

The 39-year-old entrepreneur established two tech platforms: One has become Russia’s answer to Facebook, while the other became a competitor to WhatsApp. No wonder he’s dubbed the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia. 

His net worth is estimated to be roughly $15.5 billion, according to Forbes. The messaging app he founded, Telegram, is said to be worth over $30 billion and is mulling a public listing. 

But Durov’s legacy as a tech champion is now in question. On Saturday, he was arrested in Paris in connection with an investigation into Telegram’s alleged use as a platform for criminal activity.

There’s little the world knows about Durov beyond glimpses of his life on social media, where he’s dressed in mostly black attire and pictured against scenic landscapes. However, when Durov makes a rare media appearance, it often grabs interest. For instance, he spoke to far-right talk show host Tucker Carlson about his views on social media platforms in April, and said in July that he had fathered over 100 children through sperm donation. 

His detention by French authorities has sparked reactions from the likes of Elon Musk and set off a broader conversation on topics the tech world is grappling with, such as free speech and content moderation. 

From the Soviet Union to Europe and beyond

Durov was born in Russia, where he and his family lived until he was four. They then moved to Italy, where Durov had to adapt to a different language and culture. In an interview, he told Carlson that his teachers told him he was doomed to fail, which built his competitive spirit and led him to excel as a student. 

Durov and his family eventually returned to Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, where he completed his education and founded VKontakte (now called “VK”), a Facebook-like platform, in 2006. It proved a massive success and quickly became the country’s largest social networking site.

Eventually, however, the Kremlin began meddling with the company’s management, demanding more control of the platform and causing Durov to leave VK and Russia in 2014.   

A year before he fled, Durov, along with his brother, Nikolai, set up Telegram, making it an uncensored and easy-to-access application for all.  

After years of moving around Europe and Asia, today, the messaging platform—and Durov himself—are both based in Dubai. He also holds citizenship in the UAE, France, and the Caribbean country of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Telegram has earned a reputation, which can be good or bad, depending on who you ask. With a relatively slim team of 50 or so full-time employees, the app has proved to be a critical communication tool during the Russia-Ukraine war. It offers features that its rivals don’t; for instance, its groups can accommodate up to 200,000 people as opposed to WhatsApp’s 1,000 cap. It also provides encryption, allows the use of cryptocurrency, and offers premium subscriptions.

But some corners of Telegram have come under fire for allegedly spawning criminal activities ranging from child pornography to terrorism to misinformation. The platform has gone relatively light on content moderation, which is believed to be the reason why illicit content is more widely available on Telegram.  

“Because of the large slice of activity on #Telegram that is not & has never been end-to-end encrypted, Pavel’s detention is clearly alarming many Telegram users left wondering about the privacy of what they have said in the past & who might be able to access it,” John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab of University of Toronto, wrote in a post on X.

Countries have been flagging these threats more recently: On Tuesday, South Korea called for an investigation into sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of women circulated over Telegram chats. Brazil temporarily banned Telegram for declining to share information about neo-Nazi groups with the country’s police authorities last year. Unesco highlighted in an investigation in 2022 that about half of Holocaust-related posts on Telegram either denied or distorted the facts. 

Durov told the Financial Times earlier this year that Telegram would up its moderation efforts using AI but didn’t intend to police people “unless they cross red lines.” Following its chief’s arrest, Telegram said its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving.”

What does Durov’s arrest mean for social media companies?

Telegram has largely managed to field accusations of facilitating illegal activity on its platform. Through it all, Durov has maintained that he aims to protect free speech on the messaging platform.

“Privacy, ultimately, is more important than our fear of bad things happening, like terrorism,” he posted in 2015, according to the New York Times.

Meta has been caught in a tussle of its own for years regarding free speech, censorship, and content moderation. Elon Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” whose platform, X, has been under EU scrutiny regarding its content moderation, swooped in to support Durov following his arrest.

#FreePavel
pic.twitter.com/B7AcJWswMs

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024

It’s a tricky balance, but arresting the CEOs of tech platforms may not be the best solution, Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy & Technology, told the Washington Post.

“Arresting platform executives because of their alleged failures to sufficiently moderate content, even content as disturbing and harmful as content that harms children, starts us down a dangerous road that threatens free expression and gives too much power to the government to suppress speech,” she said. 

Telegram is nearing 1 billion users worldwide. Although it’s still unclear if Durov’s arrest could change how the app operates, it certainly increases the stakes around how it moderates the content shared over its platform by freewheeling bad actors.