Arrest of Telegram CEO could bolster his image as an "internet prophet"

Pavel Durov will probably use French legal disputes to position himself as a champion of free speech, say observers

hen Pavel Durov came under criticism from Russian regulators over the spread of pornography on the VKontakte social media platform he founded, the tech entrepreneur responded mockingly by changing his Twitter handle from “VK CEO” to “Porn King”.

More than a decade later, Durov’s anti-authoritarian stance and hands-off approach to moderation have landed him in more serious trouble. 

On Wednesday, a court in Paris charged the 39-year-old with being complicit in the spread of images of child sexual abuse, as well as a litany of other alleged violations on the Telegram messaging app.

Since its launch in 2013, Durov has presented Telegram as a politically neutral refuge, free from government control and a haven for free speech. For years, he seemed unbothered by the increasing global regulations targeting tech companies and the growing criticism that his platform was being exploited for criminal activities and terrorism. 

“It looks like he overestimated himself. Durov believed he had unchecked freedom and was too significant to be arrested. France thought differently,” said the Russian journalist Nikolai Kononov, one of the few reporters who has spoken to the tech billionaire on multiple occasions and authored a biography about him.

For now, Durov has avoided jail, out on a €5m (£4.2m) bail, but has been required to surrender his three passports – French, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Russian – clipping the wings of a man known for rarely staying in one place for long.

Born in 1984 in the Soviet Union, Durov grew up in a family of intellectuals and was sent to a prestigious high school in St Petersburg. According to Kononov, Durov rebelled against power from a young age.

While learning to code in school, he hacked the system to make all the computers in the classroom display a photograph of the teacher with the caption “Must die”. He was banned from the computer lab for a month.

As a somewhat awkward teenager, Durov was said to possess immense self-confidence, bordering on a messianic belief in his own abilities. When friends gathered at a flat after high school graduation to discuss future careers, he told them, without a hint of joking, that he would become an “internet prophet”.

As his reputation as a computer wizard grew while at university, Durov was approached by two acquaintances who showed him an early version of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. The group quickly decided to create a nearly identical Russian version. 

To bring his vision to life, Durov enlisted the help of his older brother, Nikolai, a maths prodigy who won gold three years in a row at the International Mathematical Olympiad in the 1990s. The older Durov would later be recognised as the brains behind both VKontakte and Telegram.

With relatively little competition in the Russian market, VKontakte quickly grew to become the leading social networking platform in Russia as well as across the post-Soviet sphere.

VKontakte provided a user experience akin to Facebook but was specifically designed for the Russian-speaking audience. Its rapid growth was partly fuelled by the platform allowing the sharing and streaming of pirated music and films, and pornography.

Durov’s first test of his commitment to freedom came during the demonstration against Vladimir Putin that swept Russia in early 2012. Durov emerged as a hero of the liberal opposition by refusing to shut down groups on the site that were dedicated to organising protest marches. He further solidified his independent reputation when he refused to turn over data to the Kremlin on Ukrainian users during the 2013-14 Maidan marches in Ukraine.

But he gradually lost control of VKontakte to investors linked to Mail.ru, a company owned by a Russian oligarchy close to the Kremlin.

Durov decided to leave Russia, writing in his departing message: “Since December 2013, I have had no property, but I still have something more important – a clear conscience and the ideals I am ready to defend.”

Colleagues said Durov came up with the idea for Telegram while looking for a way to communicate safely with his team. 

Telegram’s novelty was that it allowed huge chat groups, making it easier to organise people, like a slicker version of WhatsApp.

Its “channels” allowed information to be disseminated quickly to large numbers of followers in a way that other messaging services do not; they combined the reach and immediacy of a Twitter/X feed, and the focus of an email newsletter.

The app’s blend of usability and privacy has attracted a diverse range of users, from lifestyle bloggers to anti-authoritarian protesters, and has been instrumental in fuelling demonstrations in Iran, Belarus and Russia.

It has also increasingly become a refuge for extremists and conspiracy theorists, as well as a preferred tool for child abusers, drug gangs and terrorist groups.

In the business world, Telegram’s success, with nearly a billion users, demonstrated that Durov was much more than just a copycat artist.

“While VKontakte raised some questions about whether Durov’s success was due to his own merits or simply a replication of Facebook, the launch of Telegram was clearly a technological breakthrough on a global scale,” said Pavel Cherkashin, a venture capitalist who worked with Durov.

As Telegram evolved into a tech giant, Durov fostered a reputation as an eccentric, imperious figure. Obsessed with the film The Matrix, he saw himself and dressed like Keanu Reeves’ character Neo, as a coder with a mission.

Although he is often referred to as “Russia’s Zuckerberg”, his biographer Kononov notes that Durov drew inspiration from Apple chief Steve Jobs, who was at the height of his influence at the time.

“Durov, like Jobs, saw himself as an authoritarian visionary, who pushes his staff to the extremes”

Durov would occasionally publish self-help posts entitled “Rules of Life” on his Instagram account, advising his millions of followers to live a solitary existence, avoid alcohol and coffee, and refrain from overeating.

He also prided himself on owning minimal property, which he claimed allowed him to remain unanchored and maintain a mobile lifestyle, supported by a team of just 30 full-time engineers around the world.

Durov has kept details of his private life largely secret, though last month, he disclosed on social media that, as a sperm donor, he now has more than 100 biological children.

Fervent supporters question speculation that Pavel Durov travelled to Paris aiming to resolve his legal disputes. Photograph: Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images

At the time of his arrest, after arriving in Paris by private jet, Durov was accompanied by 24-year-old Juli Vavilova, a Dubai-based crypto coach and streamer.

But while he has mostly managed to avoid the public scrutiny faced by top executives of other tech companies, such as Elon Musk and Zuckerberg, foreign governments have long sought to monitor Durov and win his favour.

The Guardian previously reported that Durov’s number was selected for surveillance using the Pegasus spy network, while the Wall Street Journal this week said French and Emirati spies hacked him in 2017.

At the same time, he seemed to have been wined and dined on multiple occasions by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who had suggested Durov move his company to France.

“Durov felt that he was treated with respect in France, I don’t think he saw the arrest coming,” said a source close to the billionaire who asked for anonymity.

Durov obtained French nationality in 2021. Macron on Thursday said the decision “was taken as part of a fully assumed strategy, to allow women and men ... who make the effort to learn the French language and who develop wealth and innovation, who shine in the world, when they ask for it, to be given French nationality”.
Le Monde reported that the men had met on several occasions before Durov obtained a French passport. This request for French nationality was made by Durov after a lunch with Macron in 2018, the newspaper added, saying this had been confirmed by the Élysée Palace. During this lunch, the possibility of Telegram basing itself in France was mentioned.

Questions have been raised about the timing and circumstances of Durov’s detention, in particular, whether he knew that Paris had issued a warrant against him.

Some have speculated that Durov travelled to Paris aiming to resolve his legal disputes, while fervent supporters question whether he would ever voluntarily surrender himself.

However, most believe Durov will probably frame it as another chapter in his fight for free speech, positioning himself as a champion of the cause.

“From the very start of his career, Durov has emerged stronger after every attack against him, further solidifying his image as an anti-establishment hero,” said Kononov.

Additional reporting by Kim Willsher in Paris

Source: theguardian.com

Thomas Brown