The CEO of the encrypted messaging platform Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been arrested as part of a judicial investigation, with no political motive, French President Emmanuel Macron assured today.

It was the first official confirmation of the Russian-born Telegram founder’s arrest, nearly two days after he was detained at Le Bourget airport near Paris after arriving by private jet from Azerbaijan.

Pointing out that he had read “false information” after the arrest of Pavel Durov, the French president underlines in a post on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that “the arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place in the context of an ongoing judicial investigation”, adding that “in no case is this a political decision. It’s up to the judges to decide.”

A police spokesman told the Reuters news agency that Durov was being investigated by cybercrime and fraud agencies for failing to cooperate in combating such activities via Telegram.

The 39-year-old billionaire Pavel Durov – “the Russian Mark Zuckerberg”, as they call him – is a citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates. His fortune is estimated at 15.5 billion dollars, according to Forbes magazine.

Last April he said that some governments had sought to put pressure on him, but argued that his platform should remain “neutral” and not serve “geopolitical games”.