French authorities arrested the Russian-born founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, on Saturday night immediately after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport.

Authorities were shocked that Durov, who was coming Azerbaijan, landed in France because apparently a search warrant had been issued against him at some previous point in time and authorities could only execute it if he stepped on French soil.

“He made a blunder this evening,” a source familiar with the investigation told TF1/LCI. “We don’t know why… Was this flight just a stopover? In any case, he’s in custody.”

The publication said that he avoids traveling to countries where his messaging platform is under criminal investigation for a wide range of alleged offenses.

The charges that he reportedly faces involve the spread of illegal material on Telegram that authorities allege he has taken minimal action to stop. The company also reportedly does not always cooperate with law enforcement.

French media said that because the company has not taken serious steps to reduce criminal content on the platform that it was being viewed as an accomplice to a wide-range of criminal activity, including “terrorism, narcotics, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods, pedocriminal content, etc.”

“On his platform, he allowed an incalculable number of offences and crimes to be committed, for which he did nothing to moderate or cooperate,” a source close to the case told the publication.

The Telegram CEO, whose net-worth is estimated to be over $9 billion, is in charge of a platform that currently has more than 900 million users around the world.

Durov left Russia in 2014 after he lost control of another social media platform because he wouldn’t turn over information to Russian officials about Ukrainian opposition groups.

Wall Street Journal correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov noted that another potential aspect at play in Durov’s arrest was Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“One little-known feature of this war is that the Ukrainian military largely communicates via Signal and the Russian military via Telegram,” he posted on X.

He added that Russian military analysts were panicked following Durov’s arrest because the platform was “the critical means of communication within the Russian armed forces.”

Panic among Russian military analysts and bloggers: Telegram seems to be the critical means of communication within the Russian armed forces. https://t.co/3aayhCU2gx pic.twitter.com/pGOa9ScuWs

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) August 24, 2024

Durov’s arrest sparked intense reaction online from a range of free speech advocates who did not believe the nature of the charges against him.

X owner Elon Musk said that the situation was “super messed up.”

“America is the last large country to uphold free speech and, even here, it is under attack,” he wrote, later adding: “It is vital to the support of free speech that you forward 𝕏 posts to people you know, especially in censorship-heavy countries.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. explained “what MAGA really means” in a social media post just two days after he suspended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump.

Kennedy explained that while there were many Democrats who claimed “MAGA” was a call for a return to an America that treated women and minorities as second-class citizens, he believed it was about returning the country to a place of optimism, vitality, and respect.

What “MAGA” really means

The phrase has troubled liberals who think it is a call for a return to an America before civil rights, gay rights, and women’s rights. But I have a more generous interpretation, one that is truer to my experience of Donald Trump as he is today. “Make…

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 25, 2024

“What ‘MAGA’ really means,” Kennedy posted. “The phrase has troubled liberals who think it is a call for a return to an America before civil rights, gay rights, and women’s rights. But I have a more generous interpretation, one that is truer to my experience of Donald Trump as he is today.”

“‘Make America Great Again’ recalls a nation brimming with vitality, with a can-do spirit, with hope and a belief in itself. It was an America that was beginning to confront its darker shadows, could acknowledge the injustice in its past and present, yet at the same time could celebrate its successes,” he continued. “It was a nation of broad prosperity, the world’s most vibrant middle class, and an idealistic belief (though not consistently applied) in freedom, justice, and democracy.”

“It was a nation that led the world in innovation, productivity, and technology. And it was the healthiest country in the world,” he concluded. “I have talked to many Trump supporters. I have talked with his inner circle. I have talked to the man himself. This is the America they want to restore.”

Kennedy announced on Friday that he planned to remain on the ballot in states that were solidly either red or blue so that people could vote for him if they wanted to voice their displeasure in both Republicans and Democrats. In swing states, where he felt his presence on the ballot could ultimately help Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for the White House, he said that he was withdrawing his name from the ballot and hoping that people would join him in supporting Trump over Harris.