The Russian messaging App Telegram could be the last relic from a time when the internet was the wild, wild west. Anyone can use the encrypted messaging app, including terrorists, drug dealers, and low lifes of all sorts.
Advertisement
But Telegram has also served as one of the only sources of uncensored news in Russia where many of their 900 million users reside. It’s also available in Ukraine and oppressive societies around the world.
The CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been a marked man in Western Europe for allowing all of this freedom to go on without a sufficient number of moderators. The French struck first, arresting Durov when he landed in France on his private jet.
French authorities are being very tight-lipped about their special prisoner. Aside from vague references to the lack of moderators and non-cooperation with authorities, specific charges have not been filed against Durov. He may be indicted as early as Sunday.
Elon Musk referred to Durov’s arrest, sarcastically calling it an “ad for the First Amendment.”
A poster on X gave a thumbnail bio of Durov.
Pavel reminds me of you. He is not bought.
This guy is kind of a genius. 100% equity, billion users, no marketing, 30 engineers, no HR department, based out of UAE because he wanted to be neutral. Big free speech guy. Owns nothing. Loves his freedom more than money. Raised…
— Xander Sky (@R6Alex) August 25, 2024
In an interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Durov spoke of the interest shown in Telegram by U.S. law enforcement.
Advertisement
🚨 PAVEL DUROV: THE U.S. WANTED TO CONTROL TELEGRAM BETTER
“We get too much attention from the FBI and other security agencies whenever we come to the U.S.
The last time I was in the U.S., I brought an engineer who works for Telegram.
There was an attempt by cybersecurity… pic.twitter.com/DUpz4j5TpX
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 24, 2024
“I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone,” Durov told U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson in April about his exit from Russia and search for a home for his company. Durov ended up in the United Arab Emirates.
Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, said some governments had sought to pressure him but the app should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics”.
Telegram’s increasing popularity, however, has prompted scrutiny from several countries in Europe, including France, on security and data breach concerns.
Russia’s representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, and several other Russian politicians were quick on Sunday to accuse France of acting as a dictatorship — the same criticism that Moscow faced when putting demands on Durov in 2014 and trying to ban Telegram in 2018.
What I know of Durov, he’s not the kind of person to take this lying down. If they want to hold a trial on freedom of speech, he will embrace it and expose the authorities as the jack-booted thugs they are.
Advertisement
I don’t think I’m being overly dramatic in claiming that this might be the last opportunity to salvage freedom of speech that means anything. The good with the bad, the bad with the evil, the whole mish-mash of human expression in all its glory and ugliness; this is what our left wing (and some on the right) can’t fathom about the meaning of the First Amendment.
As long as you don’t shout “fire” in a crowded theater, or threaten to hurt or kill someone, or defame someone, or exploit children, or use speech considered to be “fighting words (ex. racial epithets),” whatever you say, whatever opinions you hold, whatever cause you espouse should be untouchable by the authorities.
The plain language of the First Amendment is clear and unambiguous. Only those who seek to control speech find loopholes to try and get around it.
