Nat reports the founder of the widely used telegram messaging app has been arrested outside Paris for allegedly failing to moderate criminal activity on the platform which has also been used by pro-democracy activists worldwide police have yet to confirm his arrest and Holly Williams is following this from London Force Holly good morning good morning Ed paval durov the founder of telegram and thought to be worth over1 15 billion dollar was apparently arrested at leur airport just outside Paris shortly after touching down in his private jet durov is reportedly accused of failing to take action to stop the criminal use of his platform now the telegram app is encrypted meaning that governments cannot censor or regulate it telegram's been criticized for allowing organized crime terrorists and far-right extremists to use the app speaking to 60 Minutes back in 2016 when asked about isis's use of telegram in the wake of the 2015 Paris Terror attacks and whether law enforcement should be allowed into the app dur of defended telegram's actions saying quote the interesting thing about encryption is it cannot be secure just for some people telegram said in a statement yesterday that it abides by European Union laws including a law passed in 2022 that seeks to stop the flow of disinformation online telegram says it has nearly a billion users worldwide and speaking from personal experience I can tell you how widely used telegram has been during the war in Ukraine where it's relied on by President Vladimir zalinski and by journalists reporting from the front line it's also been used by pro-democracy protest is in Hong Kong Russia and Iran now durov was born in Russia but left the country in 2014 after refusing to shut down anti-government content on a previous app that he started Ed HW in London thank you