Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder and CEO of Telegram, was recently detained in France, drawing attention to the messaging platform and its policies. Durov co-founded Telegram with his brother Nikolai in 2013; it now boasts over 950 million users. Born in 1984 in St. Petersburg, Russia, Durov’s family moved to Italy briefly before returning to Russia. Known as the “Russian Mark Zuckerberg,” Durov faced conflict with the Russian government over his social media company VKontakte, leading him to leave Russia and later launch Telegram. His net worth is estimated at $15 billion.
