To many, Pavel Durov represents a multitude of attributes. genius in programming. billionaire businessman. Kremlin goon. crusader for free speech. at least 100 children’s biological father.
Durov, the enigmatic founder of Telegram who was arrested in France over the weekend, embodies the image of a mysterious, world-traveling tech bro with traits of libertarian Elon Musk, pronatalism, and bizarre lifestyle choices akin to those of Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Mark Zuckerberg. In July, Durov declared that over the previous 15 years, he had donated sperm, which had allowed him to become the father of over 100 children.
With an estimated net worth of $9.15 billion, as reported by Bloomberg, and multiple passports and addresses, Durov has been traveling without a shirt for the past ten years in an attempt to protect his right to free speech from governments, whether democratically elected or not.
Due to Durov’s legal issues, an old controversy is being revived, one that pits the security concerns of multiple governments and the European Union’s push to control big tech against Telegram’s end-to-end encryption, which protects user conversations from the company’s workers.
In a rare interview earlier this year, software entrepreneur Durov revealed to right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson that he was born in the Soviet Union in 1984 but relocated to Italy when he was 4 years old. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the family relocated back to Russia when Durov’s father was offered a position at St. Petersburg State University.
Durov said that from a young age, both he and his older brother Nikolai were mathematical prodigies. When the two were younger, the older Durov was more well-known. According to Durov, his brother won multiple gold medals at the International Math Olympiad and was featured on Italian TV for solving cubic equations in real time when he was a young boy. Competing locally, the younger Durov was the top student in his school.
Durov remarked, “We were both really passionate about coding and designing stuff.”
He said that the family carried an IBM PC XT computer back from Italy when they went back to Russia, indicating that they were “one of the few families in Russia who could actually teach ourselves how to program in the early 90s.”
In 2006, at the age of 21, right after graduating from university, Durov used his aptitude for coding and his entrepreneurial zeal to launch the social networking platform Vkontakte (VK). Durov was dubbed Russia’s equivalent of Mark Zuckerberg and VK swiftly gained notoriety as the Facebook of the country.
However, Durov’s relationship with the Kremlin deteriorated far more quickly than Zuckerberg’s with the US government.
Durov claimed that the Kremlin requested that the website turn over the personal information of Ukrainian users after demonstrators started using VK in 2013 to plan protests in Kyiv against Viktor Yanukovich, the pro-Russian president of Ukraine.
Durov said to Carlson, “We chose to refuse, and that didn’t go too well with the Russian government.”
Durov’s fate at the corporation was sealed with that decision. Later, Durov would step down as CEO, making room for individuals close to Russian President Vladimir Putin to assume leadership. The businessman left Russia after selling all of his shares for a million dollars. As of right now, the state controls VK.
“Becoming wealthy was never the goal for me. My entire life has been about achieving freedom. My life’s work is to help other people become free as much as possible, Durov stated.
“I refuse to follow orders from anyone.”
