- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
Telegram: The global rise of libertarian chat app
The boss of social media platform Telegram has been arrested in France, accused of allowing the sharing of illegal content.
The Russia-founded messaging platform has stayed out of the limelight in the West but has hundreds of millions of users across the world, and plays a key role in the Ukraine war.
- Libertarian leanings -
Pavel Durov, arrested after landing on his private jet in Paris on Saturday, launched the platform in 2013 with his brother Nikolai.
It claims to have 950 million users -- up from 550 million in 2022.
Durov told right-wing American journalist Tucker Carlson in April that users "love the privacy, the freedom" of the platform.
Telegram has made great play out of refusing to hand over or sell user data, distinguishing itself from the business models of US rivals like Meta or Google.
In Russia and Ukraine, some of its news channels are more popular than traditional media.
But the platform has long been criticised for failing to moderate extreme content.
Durov, who has a net worth of $15.5 billion according to Forbes, told the Financial Times in March he planned to improve the moderation mechanisms.
But "unless they cross red lines, I don't think that we should be policing people in the way they express themselves," he said.
Howewer, he also said the firm only employs a few dozen people, which experts said may not be enough to provide a properly secure platform.
- Russian origins -
The 39-year-old made a name for himself in 2006 when he launched the social network VKontakte (VK) shortly after graduating from St Petersburg State University.
Millions joined up and it quickly became known as "Russia's Facebook", its popularity piquing the interest of the Kremlin.
He said he had to fend off demands from the Russian security services to hand over details of opposition groups using VK to organise.
And later he came under huge pressure to hand over the personal data of pro-European activists in Ukraine.
These experiences led to him forming Telegram, and eventually selling his stake in VK in 2014 and leaving Russia.
By 2017, he set up in Dubai, keeping at arm's length from tougher regulatory regimes in the European Union and the United States.
Durov has citizenship of the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts and Nevis as well as French nationality, which he picked up in 2021.
- Legal troubles -
French prosecutors accuse Telegram of failing to moderate content or collaborate with the authorities.
They have highlighted content involving fraud, drug trafficking, organised crime, glorification of terrorism and cyberbullying.
The firm has said it cannot be held responsible for what its users do -- a defence long used by big tech platforms.
Several countries have tried to block Telegram in the past.
In 2018, Iran accused it of hosting violent opposition groups.
In the same year, Russia said it had failed to hand over encryption keys.
Last year, Brazil blocked it briefly for failing to provide data on neo-Nazi groups and Spain acted over intellectual property violations.
- No profits yet -
Telegram was fully funded by Durov until 2018, when it raised $1.7 billion to launch its own cryptocurrency.
The crypto project collapsed after US regulators refused to approve it, and the company reimbursed most of the investment.
The messaging service began running ads in 2021 but insisted it would not use users' private data for targeting.
A premium subscription system followed in 2022.
Durov told the Financial Times his company was generating hundreds of millions in revenue and hoped to turn a profit soon.
He also did not rule out floating on the stock exchange.
Though he has repeatedly stated his mission is not about getting rich.
"For me everything in my life was about becoming free," he told Carlson, saying Telegram was about allowing others to express their liberty.
O.Karlsson--AMWN