Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov was accustomed to rubbing shoulders with France’s business and political elite during frequent visits to the country, where he bounced between Parisian palace hotels and the sun-soaked south.

But last month, the 39-year-old received a hostile welcome upon arriving on a private jet at Paris-Le Bourget airport. The Russia-born billionaire, who is now a French-Emirati citizen, was arrested and later placed under formal investigation over alleged complicity in criminal activity on his messaging app, from drug trafficking to the dissemination of child sexual abuse material.

Durov, who goes by the name “Du Rove” on his Telegram channel as well as his French passport, wrote on Thursday he was surprised to be personally targeted for “other people’s illegal use of Telegram”.