Reports say authorities have been investigating a lack of moderators on the app, which they say allows criminal activity to take place.

Our correspondent Will Vernon explains what we know about the arrest.

Yeah, this is coming from a number of French media who quote sources in French law enforcement who say that Pavel Durov was arrested on Saturday evening last night at an airport near Paris.

He'd apparently arrived on his private jet from Azerbaijan and they're saying he was arrested on the basis of an arrest warrant that was issued in connection with Telegram's failure to moderate illegal content and cooperate with law enforcement over drug trafficking, child sexual content and fraud.

This is just coming from French media.

We should stress, of course, Telegram would almost certainly deny all of allegations.

But we'll have to see now whether he could appear in court today.

French media are saying he could be indicted today.

And of course, what the reaction will be.

You mentioned that the Russian foreign ministry, they've said that diplomats in Paris are urgently working in connection with his arrest.

Over the years, we haven't heard a lot about him in public.

He's been quite a private person.

But more recently, he did a long interview with Tucker Carlson in America and so has come out more in public, hasn't he?

Yeah, he has.

He was quite vocal when he was still in Russia.

You mentioned that in 2014, he fell out with the authorities.

According to him, the Kremlin tried to basically take control of the company.

They tried to force VK, which is the company that he created, Russia's version of Facebook, to hand over personal data of pro-Ukrainian protesters, anti-Kremlin protesters.

According to Dorov, the company refused to do that.

And he was basically forced to sell it to a company that had close links to the Kremlin.

VK is now almost totally under the control of the Russian security services.

That is our correspondent, Will Vernon.

Just a line that we're getting in from the AFP agency, which is the French news agency.

They are saying that Russia says France are refusing to cooperate after the arrest of that telegram owner.

So that Russia saying France refusing to cooperate over the arrest now.