US tech mogul Elon Musk has called for the release of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, who was arrested on Saturday shortly after arriving at Paris-Le Bourget airport. Authorities in France believe that the 39-year-old dual Russian-French national is complicit in a range of crimes allegedly committed on his platform, arguing that insufficient moderation allows for Telegram to be widely used to break the law.
The Telegram chief executive, Pavel Durov, was arrested by the French Police in Paris this morning, and the X owner, Elon Musk, has reacted to his arrest. Musk shared a snippet from one of Durov's interviews where he was talking about X. While sharing this snippet, Musk wrote, "#FreePavel." Durov was arrested at an airport north of Paris. He was detained as soon as his private jet landed at Le Bourget Airport and then soon got arrested under a warrant for offences related to Telegram.
The X (formerly Twitter) owner took to the platform to post a video of Durov talking to American conservative journalist Tucker Carlson about freedom of speech online and claiming that he was happy about the fact that Musk had purchased Twitter. Musk coupled the video with the hashtag ‘#FreePavel’.
He was swift to publicly condemn the reported arrest. “POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme,” he wrote in a comment to a news story.
Musk also wrote ‘Dangerous times’ in his reaction to a post listing different countries where “free speech is under attack” that mentions France’s reported arrest of Durov.
#FreePavel
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024
pic.twitter.com/B7AcJWswMs
According to French media outlets, Durov arrived in France by private jet from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku. The tech entrepreneur was reportedly accompanied by a bodyguard and an assistant. Le Figaro, citing sources, reported that Durov was supposed to spend at least one evening in Paris, where he had planned to have dinner.
Durov holds citizenship in the United Arab Emirates, Saint Kitts and Nevis, France and his native Russia. Moscow’s embassy in Paris has said it is looking into the situation, although it has not received an official request for assistance so far.
After Durov's Arrest, Musk Predicts Executions In Europe For 'liking A Meme' By 2030
After Telegram founder Pavel Durov was detained in France, US entrepreneur Elon Musk said that by 2030, Europe will begin executing people for liking humorous images (memes) on the Internet.
"POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme," Musk said on X, formerly known as Twitter, commenting on a report about Durov's detention, Russian news agency (Sputnik) reported.
In a separate post, Musk noted that Durov's arrest was a "convincing" advertisement for the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which states that the state should not infringe on freedom of speech.
Earlier, French media reported that Durov had been detained at the airport in the Paris suburb of Le Bourget. Durov, who has French citizenship, was on France's wanted list. He was taken into custody.
On Aug 19, Sputnik reported that the municipality of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, had banned government employees from using the Telegram messenger on their work phones due to espionage concerns, the BNR radio reported on Monday, citing Alexander Scholtes, a city council member responsible for the city's IT (information technology) policy.
Scholtes confirmed to the radio that the ban had been implemented at the end of April, citing "criminal activities within the app and the risk of espionage" as the primary reason for the decision, the report said.
The official also called Telegram "a safe haven for hackers, cybercriminals and drug traffickers," BNR reported.
Although Telegram was created in Russia, its headquarters is located in Dubai, with the company officially registered in the Virgin Islands.
Other municipalities in the Netherlands reportedly have not imposed similar bans on Telegram.
In June, the Dutch newspaper NL Times reported that the Amsterdam municipality would stop using cameras manufactured in China due to concerns about human rights violations and espionage. Chinese cameras are expected to be phased out within five years.
'Demons are Losing Control': Influencers React to Pavel Durov's Detainment
The CEO and founder of the encrypted social media app, Telegram, Pavel Durov, was arrested on August 24 at Le Bourget airport near Paris as he was departing his private jet.
Durov's arrest has triggered a heated debate with most influencers seeing it as an onslaught on free speech. A hashtag #FreeDurov popped up on X.
Former US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tweeted: "France just arrested Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the encrypted and uncensored Telegram platform. The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent."
Naomi Seibt, a German conservative political activist, dubbed anti-Greta by the Washington Post, alleged on X:
"Why do you think they just arrested the owner of Telegram, Pavel Durov? This is a test run. They are setting a precedent. Their ultimate target is Elon Musk."
Candace Owens, an African American conservative television presenter, tweeted: "The trouble with free speech is that it disallows the media to set the narrative. They used to be able to justify war to you in a faraway land. Now you can see the reality of what they are doing. This is why Pavel Durov has been arrested - because the demons are losing control."
Italian film producer, Robin Monotti, remarked on X: "Pavel Durov is facing up to 20 years in Macron's dungeons for refusing to censor content on behalf of the globalist oligarchy and their war machine."
Do Western Governments Want to Control Telegram Better?
In addition to ridiculing France's accusations against Durov, social media users recall that the Telegram CEO had told US journalist, Tucker Carlson, that Western intelligence agencies were after him, apparently seeking to use his platform to spy on users. As of 2024, the messenger has around 900 million monthly active users.
Mario Nawfal, named an "omnipresent Twitter celebrity" by NBC, wondered why Western corporate press stays mute about the Telegram CEO's arrest.
"Why aren't there articles on mainstream media about Pavel Durov, the CEO and founder of Telegram, being arrested in France because people allegedly used his app to commit 'crimes'? Why the silence?" he asked on X.
In a separate tweet, the influencer alleged that "the US wanted to control Telegram better."
He cited an excerpt from Durov's interview to Carlson, in which the Russian tech prodigy described how US cyber-security officers approached a Telegram engineer seeking a backdoor to the messenger. "Whenever I would go to the US, I would have two FBI agents greet me at the airport, asking questions," Durov said at the time.
For his part, crypto investor, Shaun Maguire, compared Durov's detainment to Vint Cerf and Rob Kahn (inventors of TCP and IP) being arrested because the Internet "is being used for drug dealers to communicate with each other, and they were unwilling to install a back door." Elon Musk agreed on this observation with one word – "Exactly."
Robert Malone, a US medical doctor and an infectious-disease researcher, who threw into question the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, also took to X to comment on Durov's arrest: "I am sickened by Pavel Durov's arrest. France is another unsafe country to travel to. The Western world has gone crazy."
Kim Dotcom, an X conservative influencer, warned that "the crackdown against free speech escalates."
No comments:
Post a Comment