Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of Telegram, was detained at Bourget Airport in France on Saturday evening, according to local reports. The arrest is reportedly part of an ongoing investigation into Telegram’s moderation practices, with French authorities alleging that the platform lacks sufficient moderators, enabling criminal activities to thrive. The French agency OFMIN, which works to prevent violence against minors, issued an arrest warrant against Durov, accusing him of promoting fraud, drug smuggling, cybercrime, and terrorism.

Durov, 39, was born in Russia and is the founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram. Telegram is a free social networking app used by millions of people worldwide, gaining recognition despite competition from Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat. The app currently has 900 million active users, with the company aiming to reach one billion users by 2024-25. Telegram’s headquarters are in Dubai, where Durov has lived since leaving Russia in 2014.

According to TF1’s website, Durov was on his private plane when he was arrested in France as part of an initial police inquiry. Both TF1 and BFM reported that the absence of Telegram moderators was at the center of the investigation, with authorities believing that this allowed criminal conduct to continue unchecked on the messaging platform. Reuters did not immediately hear back from Telegram regarding their comment request. No remark was made by the French Ministry of the Interior or the police.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the go-to place on both sides to share their uncensored, often gory, and false opinions on the war and politics. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine and his colleagues have made the app their go-to method of communication. It is also used by the Russian government and the Kremlin to spread news. In addition, it is now among the few sources where Russians can find war-related news.