Online hysteria over Durov: After Russia bans him, concerns grow over his arrest and freedom of speech

Russia, which seized control of Durov’s first company and pushed him to create Telegram while he was in exile, is now expressing concern over his arrest. Media outlets there are reporting on the absurdity of the charges against him and are treating the Telegram case as an attack on Russia. The Russian embassy in France “immediately took the necessary steps” to clarify the situation. Russian media outlets in Serbia immediately began spreading propaganda claiming that Durov’s arrest is an attack on freedom of speech and an attempt by the West to completely subjugate people, Truthmeter.mk reports.

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Pavel Durov, The Russian-born entrepreneur who founded the messaging platform Telegram was arrested in France on August 25 as part of an investigation by French prosecutors into criminal activity on the app. He was arrested at Bourget Airport, about five miles north of the French capital, after landing in a private jet from Azerbaijan.

He has not yet been charged, but he has been detained and questioned by France’s National Anti-Fraud Unit, a law enforcement agency that deals with a wide range of financial crimes.

French investigating judges opened an official investigation against Durov on December 28.^and of August, after spending four days in custody. The opening of an official investigation in France against him does not imply guilt, nor does it necessarily lead to a trial, but it does indicate that the judicial authorities believe there is sufficient material to continue investigating the case.

Durov was granted bail on condition that he pay a deposit of five million euros, report to the police twice a week and is not allowed to leave France.

Who is Pavel Durov?

Pavel Durov was born in Russia. As a child, he moved with his family to Northern Italy, returning to Russia in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Durov rose to fame in Russia in his 20s after founding the social network VKontakte (UK), which met the needs of Russian-speaking users and surpassed Facebook in the territory of the former USSR.

However, after running into trouble with the Kremlin over the company’s refusal to hand over users’ personal data to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), he sold his stake in the company in 2014 and left Russia, eventually moving to Dubai, where he said the government would not interfere in his business.

In 2013, Pavel Durov co-founded a new messaging app called Telegram with Nikolai Durov, which quickly gained popularity but proved controversial, with critics condemning a perceived lack of control over extreme content. He steadfastly refused to allow message moderation on Telegram, which allows users to post videos, photos, and comments to “channels” that anyone can follow.

This led to a huge increase in Telegram’s popularity: from 100,000 monthly active users in 2013 to 900 million monthly active users in April 2024.

Russian propaganda used Durov’s arrest to attack the West

Russia, which seized control of Durov’s first company and pushed him to create Telegram while he was in exile, is now expressing concern over his arrest. Media outlets there are reporting on the absurdity of the charges against him and are calling the Telegram case an attack on Russia. The Russian embassy in France “immediately took the necessary steps” to clarify the situation.

Russian media in Serbia immediately began spreading propaganda claiming that Durov’s arrest is an attack on freedom of speech and an attempt by the West to completely subjugate people. For example, Sputnik, calling Durov “the Assange of Russia,” published an analysis that Durov’s arrest is a piece in the mosaic of the West’s quest for absolute control.

The European Union, particularly France and Germany, have become the most extreme in implementing a program to completely subjugate the people of Europe and North America to a system based on absolute control. Durov’s arrest is only part of that project, which includes a very aggressive, offensive strategy to suppress freedoms of all kinds, starting with freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of private property and freedom of opinion, Sputnik reports the statement of the director and professor at the Faculty of Media and Communication in Serbia, Stanko Crnobrnja.

Serbian Russia Today analyzes that Durov’s arrest is a mafia extortion tactic, and emphasizes that the West George Orwell’totalitarian society. Russia Today questions how far Western censorship can go and also draws a comparison between Durov and Assange.

Durov’s arrest sparked an online storm that made him a folk hero among those concerned about freedom of speech and government censorship, especially as censorship of online content increased worldwide.

Elon Muskthe owner of X, and Edward Snowden, the American intelligence agent who fled to Russia after leaking classified information, were among those who came to Durov’s aid. The hashtag #FreePavel spread over X.

American journalist Tucker Carlson also responded.

Pavel Durov left Russia when the government tried to control his social media company, Telegram. But in the end, it wasn’t Putin who arrested him for allowing the public to use free speech. It was a Western country, an ally of the Biden administration and an enthusiastic NATO member that locked him up. Pavel Durov sits in a French prison tonight, a living warning to every platform owner who refuses to censor the truth at the behest of governments and intelligence agencies. Darkness is rapidly descending on the formerly free world, wrote Carlson.

Online hysteria in North Macedonia

The online hysteria that arose after the Russian story that Durov’s arrest was an attempt by the West to censor and restrict freedom of expression did not go unnoticed in North Macedonia either.

For example, messages on the social network Facebook propagate that the West is tightening the noose around all social networks that do not support censorship, while a photo of a message from X is shared, stating that the social network Tick ​​Tock has been eliminated while Telegram, X and Rumbling remain on the list.

In Facebook posts in our country, Durov’s arrest is again being compared to that of Orwell in 1984, while Durov himself is being equated with Assange.

Telegram is a lonely island of free speech in a censored and controlled digital world. It is that island that pricks the eyes of the services that want to control everything and know everything, just like in Orwell’s 1984. Durov is in this decade what Assange was in the previous one, a fighter for the truth, a fighter for free speech, a fighter against censorship, says in a message.

What is the truth behind Durov’s arrest?

Founded in 2013, messaging platform Telegram has more than 900 million users and is popular in countries including Brazil, India, Indonesia, Russia and Ukraine. Telegram’s insight into what users are saying or doing on the platform has helped people communicate, organize and share news without fear that someone in the background can see them if they want to remain anonymous. But it has also made the app a tool favored by terrorist organizations, drug dealers and far-right groups.

French President Emmanuel Macron claims that the procedure with Durov, the owner of Telegram, is not a politically motivated procedure.

It is up to the judiciary, in complete independence, to enforce the law. The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision, he wrote on the social network X.

According to French prosecutors, Durov was arrested in connection with a wide-ranging investigation into criminal activity on the platform, which was launched last month.

Laure Beccuauthe Paris prosecutor said Monday that an investigation had been opened into the 8^and in July “against an unnamed individual” on a number of possible charges involving child abuse material, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, solicitation of criminal transactions and failure to cooperate with law enforcement. The investigation is being led by cybercrime and anti-fraud specialists, the New York Times reported.

This kind of non-cooperation of Telegram with the various state authorities is known to us. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor’s Office were in almost the same situation in 2021 during the “Javna Soba” (Public Hall) case. The then Minister of Internal Affairs, Olivier Spasoski, said at a press conference that despite his call and the call of the then prime minister, they would take other steps against Telegram if there was no response. The group “Javna Soba” (Public Space) was then deleted, which further complicated the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor’s Office.

On the other hand, the European Commission (EC) refused to comment on the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France, calling it an “individual case.”

A European Commission spokesman said Durov’s arrest had nothing to do with Telegram’s obligations under the so-called Digital Services Act (DSA). The EU has tightened its controls on big tech companies under the DSA, which came into force earlier this year. The regulation requires so-called “very large online platforms” (platforms with more than 45 million monthly users) to follow a series of rules on data protection and advertising.

“Criminal prosecution is not one of the possible sanctions for violating the DSA,” an EC spokesperson said, adding that “the DSA does not define what is illegal, nor establish a criminal offence, and therefore cannot be relied on to make arrests.” Only national (or international) laws defining the crime can be used as a basis.reports Vostok.rs

It is unclear whether charges will be filed against Durov. In a statement released by Telegram on Wednesday, the company said it was “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse on that platform.”

In a statement from the company, Telegram said it “complies with European Union laws, including the Digital Services Act.”

Russia and the United Arab Emirates, where Telegram is based, have requested consular access for Durov. He is a citizen of both countries and also holds a French passport.

Written by Ana Anastasovska