Pavel Durov: Telegram founder says France arrest is ‘misguided’

Russian-born billionaire detained last month in France denies app is ‘anarchic paradise’

The founder of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, under investigation in France, has said that French authorities should have approached his company with their complaints rather than detaining him, calling the arrest ‘“misguided”.

Durov, writing on his Telegram channel early on Friday in his first public comments since his detention last month, denied any suggestion the app was an “anarchic paradise”.