You are currently viewing How Pavel Durov, Telegram’s Founder, Went From Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg to Wanted Man

Pavel Durov’s anti-establishment streak helped him create one of the world’s biggest online platforms, which emphasizes free speech. It also put a target on his back.

More than a decade ago, when Russia pushed Pavel Durov to shut down the pages of opposition politicians on a Facebook-like site he had created, the tech entrepreneur responded online by posting a cheeky picture of a hoodie-wearing dog with its tongue out.

“Official response to the intelligence services to the request to block groups,” he wrote unapologetically.

Thirteen years later, Mr. Durov’s anti-establishment streak appears to have gotten him into a fresh round of trouble with the authorities. On Saturday, he was arrested in France as part of an investigation into criminal activity on Telegram, the online communications tool he founded in 2013, which had grown into a global platform defined by its hands-off approach to policing how users behaved.

On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron of France

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