French authorities over the weekend arrested 39-year-old Russian-born Pavel Durov, the co-founder and CEO of the social media messaging platform Telegram.
Durov, who holds dual citizenship in France and Russia, had disembarked his jet at the Le Bourget airport from a flight from Azerbaijan, when he was met by French police, who detained him in connection with allegations that Telegram was being used for illegal activities, such as money laundering, drug trafficking, and pornography involving children.
Telegram is an instant messaging app that is popular because of its security settings and encrypted privacy features.
France has extended police authority to keep Durov in custody, but where the tech billionaire is being held has not been disclosed. He is being interrogated by France’s National Anti-Fraud Office, which has vast authorities over a wide range of activity. While Durov has still not been charged with a crime, officials said that he is being held as part of an investigation “against person unnamed.”
“We live in a world where George Orwell’s ideas have completely triumphed,” wrote Boris Rojine on Colonelcassad, which is a popular military channel on Telegram.
LeMonde, a mainstream media outlet in France, reported that Russian social media networks are claiming the arrest came from orders from Washington, D.C., and relate to the U.S. presidential election, “in order to bring Telegram, which is popular across the Atlantic, under control; Paris is also said to be worried about Durov’s links with Azerbaijan, where he had just spent a few days and where, according to a rumor denied by the Kremlin, he even met Russian President Vladimir Putin; according to another rumor, Paris allegedly has genuine personal grievances against the Telegram founder.”
Elon Musk, who bought majority shares in X/Twitter to turn it into a free-speech platform, says the real motive behind Durov’s arrest is “Freedom of expression is being suppressed in Europe.” Musk may not be traveling to France in the near future.
Musk also used the X platform to post a video of an April interview Durov gave Tucker Carlson, in which Durov revealed that the United States government had tried to infiltrate Telegram’s servers through back-door channels to gain access without the company’s knowledge.
Musk also questioned why Instagram/Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has not been arrested, but answered his own question: “Because he already caved into censorship pressure. Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data.”
