\n<\/p>\n
French authorities arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on Saturday in relation to a probe about a lack of moderators on the messaging app.<\/p>\n
His lawyer on Sunday blasted the arrest as \u201cabsolutely ridiculous<\/a>,\u201d with Russian media and right-wing commentators calling his detainment an attack on free speech.<\/p>\n The 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire was arrested shortly after his private jet landed at Le Bourget Airport in Paris.<\/p>\n Durov, a French-Emarati citizen, fled Russia in 2014<\/a> for failing to acquiesce to the Kremlin\u2019s demands to suppress opposition voices on VK, another social media platform he founded. He \u201ccan hardly be called a Russian patriot<\/a>,\u201d Russian state media RIA Novosti wrote Sunday, but Moscow still called his arrest politically motivated.<\/p>\n Durov \u201cmiscalculated\u201d leaving Russia, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Reuters, adding that \u201cfor all our common enemies now, he is Russian \u2014 and therefore unpredictable and dangerous<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n X owner Elon Musk, who is in the EU\u2019s crosshairs over lack of moderation on his own platform, said the arrest was an attack on free speech.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s 2030 in Europe and you\u2019re being executed for liking a meme<\/a>,\u201d Musk posted.<\/p>\n Durov founded Telegram in 2013 as a messaging platform to safely communicate while he faced pressure in Russia. He framed the app as a \u201cneutral platform<\/a>\u201d and \u201cnot a player in geopolitics,\u201d Reuters reported.<\/p>\n But the app has become the dominant communication platform for both Moscow and Kyiv since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, with both sides accused of posting misleading \u2014 and often graphic \u2014 propaganda to mobilize their supporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n