The Business Behind Telegram with its founder now under arrest.

I'm David Brancaccio in New York.

Over the weekend, French authorities arrested the 39-year-old billionaire founder of the messaging app

Telegram amid what's reported to be a wide-ranging investigation into

criminal activity on the app.

Telegram transmits a lot of toxic and dangerous stuff, but it has many legitimate uses.

Marketplace's Nova Safo reports.

Telegram is a privately held company located in Dubai, so its activities are opaque with no regulatory disclosures required.

It claims to have nearly a billion active monthly users and is a key source of information

in some countries.

Telegram is said to have just a few dozen employees

and very low operating costs

thanks to its light touch on content moderation.

That's by design.

Telegram says its founder,

Pavel Duraov created the messaging app

after leaving Russia in 2014,

where he'd faced government pressure

to turn over data about Ukrainian protesters.

Telegram is an encrypted messaging app, but has social media components and recently

added elements such as advertising, as well as features to encourage a creator economy

on its platform.

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