• French media reported that Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested at an airport near Paris on Saturday.

• Durov was arrested following a “preliminary police investigation,” Reuters reported.

• Telegram is facing increasing pressure to moderate content on the platform, but Durov fought back.

Several media outlets reported that Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested on Saturday as he disembarked from his private jet at Le Bourget airport outside Paris.

Reuters, citing French media sources, reported that the elusive billionaire entrepreneur was arrested as part of a preliminary investigation into criminal activity on the instant messaging app. According to CBS News, the investigation is focusing on posts on the platform that could contain offenses such as fraud, drug trafficking and organized crime, with Telegram accused of failing to adequately moderate such content.

CBS News reported that he is expected to appear in court on Sunday.

Durov’s arrest comes amid increasing international pressure on social media platforms to moderate content on their websites and apps. The European Union, of which France is a key member, recently implemented the Digital Services Act, which requires major tech companies to strictly moderate illegal content on their platforms or face heavy fines. Telegram has come under intense scrutiny from the EU this year over its moderation practices as the platform has grown to 41 million EU users – just under the size of 45 million that would require the platform to follow DSA rules.

Telegram is a particularly influential social media platform in Ukraine and Russia and has become a major source of information about the war between the two countries. The site has repeatedly come under fire for hosting graphic and misleading content about the war between Russia and Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas. However, Telegram rarely shuts down channels without a request from law enforcement or regulators.

Russian-born Durov left the country in 2014 after refusing to comply with Kremlin orders to close the accounts of opposition groups on another social media platform he founded, VKontakte, Reuters reports. That same year, Durov sold his stake in VKontakte.

“I would rather be free than take orders from anyone,” Durov told Tucker Carlson in April about his decision to leave Russia.

Representatives for Telegram did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

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