France arrests Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram

Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris, TF1 TV and BFM TV have said, citing unnamed sources.

Durov was travelling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website on Saturday, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation.

TF1 and BFM both said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters news agency request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police had no comment.

TF1 said Durov had been travelling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 20:00 (18:00 GMT).

According to Russia's TASS news agency, the Russian embassy in France is taking "immediate steps" to clarify the situation around Durov after the reports of his arrest.

'Not a player in geopolitics'

Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Russian-born 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 sold.

Durov, who Forbes estimates to have a fortune of $15.5 billion, said some governments had sought to pressure him, but the app should remain a "neutral platform" and not a "player in geopolitics."

Telegram was originally launched in 2013 for iOS and launched on Android soon after.

The app was launched with the focus of security and speed, and has garnered around 900 million users.