Russia is investigating Telegram founder Pavel Durov in a criminal case for "facilitating terrorist activities," the state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper reported, citing the Federal Security Service (FSB), Reuters reported, BTA reported.
There has been no comment from Durov so far, but in recent days, Telegram has denied a number of accusations from Russia that the application is a haven for criminal activity and has been compromised by both Western and Ukrainian intelligence services.
"The actions of Telegram boss P. Durov are being investigated in a criminal case for a crime under item 1.1 of article 205.1 (assisting terrorist activity) from the Russian Criminal Code," the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper reported in an article it said was "based on materials from the Russian Federal Security Service."
There was no immediate comment from the app, which claims to have more than 1 billion active users worldwide, Reuters reported.
Russia's state communications agency has imposed restrictions on Telegram, which is extremely popular in Russia for public and private communications, because it said the company had failed to delete extremist content. Moscow is trying to get Russians to switch to the state-backed Max app, which was launched almost a year ago, Reuters reported.