News > Billionaire Telegram founder Durov's rebel streak puts freedom at risk

Billionaire Telegram founder Durov's rebel streak puts freedom at risk

Pavel Durov’s decision to repeatedly ignore requests from governments to better moderate content on his platform reached a tipping point this weekend, when he was detained in France over allegations that Telegram failed to adequately combat crime on the app, including the spread of child sexual abuse material. The 39-year-old has styled himself as a radical libertarian and cultivates a look riffing off of Keanu Reeves’ Neo character in The Matrix.