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

Pavel Durov’s laissez-faire attitude to regulation made messaging app Telegram into a giant and gave him a platform to clash with officials from Moscow to Brussels from his perch in Dubai.

His 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.