Telegram Co-Founder Remains In Custody, Mystery Blonde Missing

Pavel Durov

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire co-founder of Telegram, remained in French custody on Monday following his weekend arrest over illegal activity and harmful content on his popular digital platform.

Courthouse News reports his arrest sparked a flurry of speculation over potential political and legal reasons behind his detention, though French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday dismissed suggestions the arrest was politically motivated.

Since Pavel Durov founded the platform with his brother Nikolai Durov in 2013, Telegram has become a popular alternative social media platform and encrypted messaging app in many parts of the world, especially in conflict zones and authoritarian states. Very few Americans use it, but that's not the case in Europe. Worldwide, it has nearly 1 billion users.

Telegram has become a favorite portal in Russia and Ukraine for bloggers, alternative news operations, propagandists, public officials and even for military planners. For many people in Russia and Belarus, it is one of the only sources for independent news. Telegram is also used by far-right and white supremacist groups in Europe and the United States.

Juli Vavilova

But French authorities said the arrest was related to Telegram not cooperating with authorities and allowing fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, child pornography and the promotion of terrorism to take place on the platform. In the past, Telegram was accused of being a recruitment site for Islamic State terrorists, though it has cracked down on that activity.

Pavel Durov's detention marked a forceful move by European authorities to show how serious they are about reining in harmful and illegal content on digital platforms.

On Monday, The NY Post reported a mystery blonde who was traveling with Telegram CEO Pavel Durov cannot be located by her family following the secretive tech billionaire’s arrest in France last weekend.

Juli Vavilova, 24, who is also a video game streamer, is at the center of online speculation after she shared a series of glam pics while apparently traveling with Durov to Azerbaijan last week, according to matching social media posts highlighted by French privacy data researcher Baptiste Robert and others.

Online observers suggest those posts may have given away details about the exiled Russian mogul’s movements prior to his arrest. He was taken into custody after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday.