Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been arrested in France on numerous charges related to his operation of the social messaging platform. This comes according to unconfirmed accounts via social media and unverified press reports.
According to the reports, Durov was arrested when his plane landed at the Bourget airport outside Paris. He allegedly faces charges of terrorism, trafficking, conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and more.
French commercial television network TF1 reported, citing unnamed sources close to the matter, that "this search warrant ran if, and only if, Pavel Durov was on national territory."
It further claimed that Durov didn’t travel within Europe often and avoided countries “where Telegram is under surveillance.”
In the wake of the reported arrest, the Toncoin (TON) cryptocurrency developed by Telegram has taken a more than 10% dip from its early Aug. 24 high of $6.86 to $5.85 as of the time of publication.
Several high-profile figures around the world have already publicly commented on the reports.
“Do you understand the severity of what is happening yet? Pavel Durov truly believes in free speech and created a platform the deep state doesn’t have access to, so now they have arrested him,” American commentator Candace Owens declared.
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“Pavel Durov sits in a French jail tonight, a living warning to any platform owner who refuses to censor the truth at the behest of governments and intel agencies,” former Fox News television host Tucker Carlson told his 13.6 million X followers in an Aug. 24 post.
It came not too long after Durov told Carlson on his podcast in April that he predicts the rising government surveillance will force the birth of secure communication devices inspired by cryptocurrency hardware wallets.
“The world is becoming less amenable. Governments are becoming less tolerant of privacy," Durov explained.
“That’s clearly the trend because they have more technological power,” he added.
The Open Network (TON) has since released an official statement on X but didn’t provide any specific details on the investigation.
“Following the recent news related to the Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov, we want to assure everyone that the TON community remains strong and fully operational,” TON stated on X.
"As a community committed to freedom of speech and decentralization, we stand firmly by Pavel during this challenging time,” it added.
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Update (Aug. 25 and 2:03am UTC): This article has been updated to include TON's offical statement published on its X account.