Telegram and Durov target power

After Durov's arrest, the owner of X, Elon Musk, American TV show host Tucker Carlson, famous podcast presenter Lex Friedman, etc. have made a public statement that Durov was arrested to increase control over Telegram. Even though the Telegram app is famous, this is the first time in the world that there has been such a great interest and search policy about its CEO. Born in the then Soviet Union, Durov is considered a 'fascinating figure' in the technology world. Some have started calling him Russia's Mark Zuckerberg, some Russia's Elon Musk or some even Russia's Jack Dorsey. He created the VKontakte (VK) app that looks exactly like Facebook, the most used platform in Russia. Launched in 2013, the VK app currently has 78 million daily active users.

According to a BBC report, Durov left Russia in 2014 for St. Kitts and Nevis after the government pressured him to close the accounts of the opposition community on the VK app. He had to sell the app due to government pressure. After that he started promoting Telegram while staying in different countries. The Telegram app, created with his brother Nikolai Durov, is popular because of its features such as large number of group chats and the ability to exchange large files. Durov has been strategically promoting it as robust and reliable, especially in terms of privacy and security. It is currently said to have around 950 million monthly active users.

Durov has claimed to be a strong advocate of freedom of expression, data protection and privacy. However, now that French police are investigating his involvement with people linked to drug trafficking, gangs and child sex abuse, Politico magazine points out that it is difficult to know whether he is an advocate of freedom of expression or a shadow criminal. In the ongoing investigation, Durov is being investigated by agencies related to cyber security, prevention of fraud and fraud, and crimes against children. According to

CNN, French judicial authorities have also requested more information from Switzerland regarding Durov's allegations of "violent acts" against one of his sons. His ex-wife Irina Bolgar has accused Palev of beating the youngest of their three children and threatening to kill her. She filed a complaint in a Geneva court in March 2023. 39-year-old Durov, who has been donating sperm for the past 15 years, claims to have more than 100 biological children in 12 countries.

Durov is a person who prefers a very luxurious life. He was a citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates and was living in Dubai. He used to live in the expensive Jumeirah Island, paying an annual rent of 1 million US dollars (about 10 million rupees per month) and used to post pictures of his toned body along with his luxurious lifestyle on Instagram. He has 1.5 million followers on Instagram. According to Forbes, as of August 2024, Durov's net worth is $15.5 billion. He is the 120th richest person in the world. His annual income is $1.5 billion and this income mostly comes from the Telegram app, according to Forbes.

"Durov and Satta were never good friends," wrote Eva Hartg in Politico, "When Durov was a student, Durov hacked the school's computer network and made a screen saver of a teacher he didn't like by writing 'man who must die'." Now in his late 39s, he seems to be a combination of recluse like Facebook's Zuckerberg and Elon Musk's eccentricity, narcissism and contrarian thinking.'

Regarding Durov's arrest, French President Emmanuel Macron responded that this move was not political. In the conversation with the social network X and the media, he said that there was an attempt to spread various misleading information about Durov's arrest and it was clear that such claims were not true. 'France is committed to freedom of communication and expression,' he wrote, 'this arrest is part of an ongoing judicial investigation into Durov and his business and is in no way a political move.' is not limited to The Indian government has been constantly trying to ban Telegram, saying that it is becoming a medium for terrorists, while China has already banned this app due to encryption. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates have also been imposing legal restrictions on Telegram or Durov for various reasons. In the US, while there are attempts to monitor other Russian and Chinese apps, Telegram is running uninterrupted and now there are about 10 million active Telegram users in the US.

As governments around the world are trying to regulate and regulate social networks and artificial intelligence, technology company owners who once became the face of the world market are getting into trouble. The trade war between China, Russia and the United States, the risk of misleading false information that social networks are adding, and some geopolitical hoaxes are also the first victims of technology companies.

The attempt to regulate China's Tiktok by countries including the US and the ban in dozens of countries including India and Nepal, the recent ban on X by the Brazilian government, and the increasing problems of Alibaba and Jack Ma in China seem to have increased the headaches of technology market personalities. Analysts are of the opinion that Durov's legal hurdle of moving offices around the world and running a popular app like Telegram with a small team is the latest link in that chain.

(with agency help)