Due to his technological profile, his fortune and age, many have baptized Pavel Valeryevich Durov as the “Russian Mark Zuckerberg.” Also for its pioneering role in the world of technology.
Like the creator of Facebook, Durov also created a social network, actually two: first was VKontakte – the largest social network in Russia, which he founded when he was 22 years old.– and the other is one of the most used communication platforms worldwide, Telegram.
The success of both projects places him as one of the most influential technological icons in the world and a renowned businessman at only 41 years old.
According to Forbeshis personal fortune amounts to US$6.6 billion.
Now, Russia accuses him of facilitating terrorist activities, according to the authorities of that country.
The Russian secret service, FSB, maintains that Telegram has not complied with eliminating the channels, chats and bots used by the Ukrainian secret services to “prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terror” within Russia.
An international arrest warrant has been issued for Durov, who was born in Russia and resides abroad.
Shortly after the announcement, the official Telegram account on X posted a photo of Durov making an obscene gesture with his middle finger.
According to BBC Russia editor Steven Rosenberg, earlier this year and in response to reports of a criminal case against him, Durov accused Russian authorities of “fabricating new pretexts to restrict Russians’ access to Telegram.”
The app has been under constant pressure from authorities, as part of a broader crackdown on internet freedom in Russia.
Durov’s problems with justice go beyond Russia.
In 2024, French authorities arrested him and charged him with charges of alleged complicity in various crimes committed by others through Telegram such as fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, money laundering, promoting terrorism, and sexual abuse of children.
In response to these accusations from the French authorities, Telegram said at the time in a statement that this company “complies with EU laws, including the Digital Services Law” and that the moderation of its content “is within industry standards and is constantly improving.”
“Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and frequently travels around Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuses that are committed,” the statement added.
Durov was released but under judicial control and was prohibited from leaving France until the end of 2025.
The technology entrepreneur has the passport of that country, as well as that of the United Arab Emirates.
The AFP news agency contacted Durov’s lawyers to ask about the new charges in Russia, but they declined to comment.
Minimalist style and father “of 100 children”
Durov was born in 1984 in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and lives in Dubai, where Telegram’s headquarters are also located.
As a child he attended the St. Petersburg Academic Gymnasium, a prestigious school known for its emphasis on mathematics and science, and later studied Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at St. Petersburg State University.
There his first big idea would germinate: a student forum called spbgu.ru, which allowed academic issues to be discussed and information shared.
Not given to giving interviews, in one conducted in early 2024, Durov said that Telegram should remain a “neutral platform” and not “an actor in geopolitics.”
“Durov has earned a reputation for asceticism and discipline that goes beyond his professional achievements,” says former MIT professor Douglas C Youvan in a book about the Telegram founder called The Russian Jesus: A Beacon of Digital Freedom in an Age of Surveillance (“The Russian Jesus: A Beacon of Digital Freedom in an Age of Surveillance”).
“He is known for his minimalist lifestyle, abstaining from alcohol, caffeine and processed foods, and adhering to a rigorous personal regimen focused on mental clarity and physical health,” he adds.
According to ForbesDurov, who has had six children with three ex-girlfriends, claims to have donated sperm that allowed him to father 100 babies.
Encrypted messages
Telegram has more than 1 billion monthly active users and is ranked as one of the leading social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat.
The application was a pioneer in the use of the encrypted protocol in messaging. A feature that its rivals would later copy.
Durov came up with the idea for an encrypted messaging app when he was facing pressure from Russian authorities to hand over the personal data of Ukrainian users of the social network Vkontakte – the Russian version of Facebook – and a call to close groups critical of Moscow in that country.
Encryption means Messages can only be read on the device that sends them and the device that receives them.
The refusal to provide the data requested by the Russian authorities led him to leave his country in 2014 and leave behind control of VK.
From then on, his efforts would focus on developing Telegram, which he founded with his brother Nikolai in 2013.
In this network, in addition to communicating one on one, users can join groups of up to 200,000 people and create broadcast “channels” that others can follow and in which they can leave comments.
In the United Kingdom, for example, the app came under scrutiny for hosting far-right channels that were instrumental in organizing violent riots in English cities earlier this month.
Telegram removed some groups.
However, cybersecurity experts consider that in general its system for moderating extremist and illegal content is considered significantly weaker than that of other social media companies and messaging applications.
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