Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday and placed in custody, a police source said.

There was no official confirmation from France of the arrest, which French and Russian media have also reported, saying that Durov was arrested shortly after arriving at Le Bourget airport on a private jet from Azerbaijan.

France's BFM and TF1 said that Durov, who has dual French and United Arab Emirates citizenship, was arrested as part of a preliminary police investigation into allowing possible criminality due to a lack of moderators on Telegram and a lack of cooperation with police. Reuters' police source could not confirm that.

Telegram and senior Telegram managers did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The French Interior Ministry, police and Paris prosecutor's office had no comment. Durov faces possible indictment on Sunday, according to French media.

Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he has sold.

The encrypted application, with close to one billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat.

(Reuters)