In a dramatic escalation of tensions surrounding digital free speech, Telegram has firmly denied any wrongdoing in the wake of its founder Pavel Durov's arrest in France. Durov's associate, Pavel Pavlovski, condemned the French government's actions as a "crossed red line," highlighting the ongoing struggles faced by platforms like Rumble in their battle against censorship. With Rumble also caught in a legal skirmish with French authorities over content regulations, the implications of Durov's arrest reverberate beyond national borders, raising critical questions about freedom of expression in an increasingly regulated digital landscape.
He said that he left Europe after the news broke.
Durov was taken into custody at a Paris airport on Saturday evening.
While the French authorities have yet to publicly announce the reason for detaining the Russian tech mogul, reports are suggesting that the charges are related to his alleged complicity in drug trafficking, pedophilia offenses, fraud, as well as failure to address criminal activity on the messenger.
RT reports: Telegram has denied any wrongdoing, adding that it is “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, Pavlovski said he had “safely departed from Europe” in the aftermath of Durov’s arrest. He slammed the move by France, saying it “crossed a red line,” while noting that the country had already threatened Rumble.
”Rumble will not stand for this behavior and will use every legal means available to fight for freedom of expression, a universal human right. We are currently fighting in the courts of France, and we hope for Pavel Durov’s immediate release,” he added.
Pavlovski’s platform, which has positioned itself as a free speech alternative to YouTube, has been embroiled in its own legal battle with the French authorities. It began in November 2022 after officials in Paris banned Rumble over its refusal to comply with a request to remove Russian media accounts blocked in the EU due to sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.
Though Durov’s arrest occurred in France, a number of opinion leaders, including American entrepreneur David Sacks, have suggested that the US was behind the move. In April, Sacks also predicted that Washington could go after Telegram, X, and eventually Rumble, given that the US passed a law that would ban the video-sharing platform TikTok if its Chinese-based developer, ByteDance, refused to sell it within 12 months.
