The unexpected arrest of Pavel Durov in France has sent out shockwaves through his digital empire, the Telegram messaging app, which boasts over 900 million active users.

The Russian-born billionaire created the app together with his older brother, gifted mathematician and programmer Nikolai Durov.

The brothers have built up the platform's reputation for privacy by setting up layers of data protection and repeatedly defying state actors who requested access. At the same time, Telegram's critics describe it as a "Wild West" app where disinformation and propaganda spread with little to no oversight.

It is only one of the projects launched by Pavel Durov, who is often described as "Russia's Mark Zuckerberg."

VKontakte — Facebook's Russian rival

Pavel Durov was born in St. Petersburg in the former Soviet Union in 1984. Both of his parents were lecturers at the St. Petersburg State University. When Durov was four, his family moved to Italy and spent the next four years there. Durov started attending elementary school in Turin.

In 1992, his family returned to Durov's home city and his father took over as the head of the classical languages department at the State University's philology college. Durov continued his education in Russia, and started his first forays into programing during high school. He subsequently started college pursuing a degree in English, where he set up a digital library named Durov.com and an online student forum. Durov later admitted creating different online accounts and arguing with himself on his forum to boost discussion.

While completing his studies and obtaining a degree in English translation in 2006, the future tech billionaire also focused on creating a social network inspired by Mark Zuckerberg, who launched "The Facebook" in 2004. Durov's own platform VKontakte (In Contact) was up and running by late 2006. It was partly backed by funds obtained through Durov's classmate and business partner Vyacheslav Mirilashvili, son of a controversial entrepreneur Mikhael Mirilashvili.

The network reached 3 million users in 2007 and continued to spread, soon cementing its position as the dominant social media platform in Eastern Europe.

Streaming as secret weapon

To a Western user eager to join VKontakte during its early years, the platform would appear to be little more than a Russian-made Facebook knockoff, complete with friends lists, photo albums, user "walls" — down to the dark blue and white color scheme.

Under the hood, however, VKontakte had a feature that Facebook could not match. Due to lax enforcement of copyright laws in Russia, VKontakte users were uploading and streaming all kinds of video content, including Russian and Hollywood movies.

Durov later said that he used Facebook as an example of "what not to do."

"I started a company that became what they call the Facebook of Russia," Durov told US-based journalist Tucker Carlson in April 2024. "We don't like to name it that way because we actually managed to do a lot of things before Facebook and that defined how the social media industry developed during the years."

Flying cash on paper planes

The company's growing popularity soon put Durov in conflict with the Russian state. In 2011 and 2012, Russian opposition used social media to coordinate a wave of anti-government protests, and the authorities pressured VKontakte to cut this avenue of communication.

Durov refused. A similar situation unfolded in late 2013 and 2014, when Ukrainians started their Euromaidan protests which would lead to the eventual ouster of pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych. Durov claims Russian officials pressured him to reveal private data about the protest organizers in Ukraine, and that he once again refused their request.

Meanwhile, Durov became a millionaire and started developing a reputation as an eccentric. In 2012, he was criticized for putting cash into paper planes and flying them into the street from his St. Petersburg office. Passers-by soon started fighting over bills, with Durov commenting online that they had gone "feral."

In 2013, Durov and his older brother launched the Telegram messaging app. Durov claims he came up with the idea of an encrypted messaging platform when armed police officers came to his Russian home. He allegedly wanted to inform his brother about what was happening and coordinate their next steps, but realized none of the available communication channels were secure from surveillance.

Telegram joins Apple and Google in banning Navalny's app

Facing increased pressure from the government, Durov sold off his VKontakte stake and left Russia in 2014. He soon obtained the citizenship of the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, then secured a French passport and a citizenship of the United Arab Emirates some years later.

His team tried to set up in various countries, including UK, Germany, and the US, before eventually settling in Dubai.

Talking to Carlson, Durov said American intelligence tried to recruit one of his engineers to create software tools that would allow them "backdoor" access to the app. He also said he was repeatedly questioned by FBI agents while visiting the US.

In 2018, Russian authorities tried to block Telegram after its management refused to grant Russia's FSB intelligence agency access to user conversations. The blockade failed. The messenger is now functioning in Russia and used by many senior state officials.

But Telegram's record in the fight against state censorship is not completely unblemished — in 2021, his platform joined Apple and Google in blocking the "Smart Voting" software championed by late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, that would allow Russian voters to vote strategically against pro-regime parties.

Russian billionaire without a yacht

Durov has described himself as a "libertarian" and a "citizen of the world," whose main priority is personal freedom. His seven rules of healthy, youthful living include giving up alcohol and meat products, and staying single.

Durov's photos on Instagram, arranged to show off his physique against stunning, cinematic backgrounds have also inspired many jokes and memes among Russian-speaking internet users.

While not being married, Durov has at least five children with two different women. In online post in July 2024, Durov said he was "just told that I have over 100 biological kids" due to his efforts as a sperm donor.

"Now I plan to open-source my DNA so that my biological children can find each other more easily," he said in a Telegram post.

The net value of Durov, who will turn 40 this year, is valued by Forbes at $15.5 billion (€13.9 billion). The billionaire claims not to own any luxury real estate, jets or yachts, and has publicly decried the dangers of "overconsumption."

Commenting on Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022, Durov described it as "tragic"  and pointed out his mother's Ukrainian origin.

"To this day, we have many relatives who live in Ukraine. Therefore, this tragic conflict is personal for me as well as for Telegram," he wrote.

Edited by: Helen Whittle