‘Telegram’ founder Pavel Durov detained in France. The West wants to control ‘Telegram’

Pavel Durov.
Photo: VK.ru

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been detained in France, the LCI news channel reported.

According to the media outlet, Durov was detained at Le Bourget Airport. He was accompanied by his girlfriend and a bodyguard.

The Paris police prefecture has not yet confirmed the information about Durov’s detention for TASS.

The Paris’ decision to detain Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov raises a question whether international organization will demand his release or will "swallow their tongues," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, TASS informs.

The diplomat pointed out that back in 2018, a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders and others, condemned the Russian court’s ruling to block Telegram.

"Do you think they will call on Paris this time and demand Durov’s release or will they swallow their tongues?" the diplomat said on her Telegram channel.

"There were legislative complaints to Telegram [back in 2018], which many countries had due to the technical parameters of its encryption system," the spokeswoman explained, pointing out that Durov remained free and continued to develop his messenger during that period.

The diplomat emphasized that the Russian embassy "has immediately started working" on his detention, "as it supposed to in a case, when information comes that the receiving side has detained a Russian citizen."

"There is no need to remind our diplomat about their duties," Zakharova added.

US businessman Elon Musk believes that people in Europe will soon be executed for liking a joke social media post.

"POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme," he said, commenting on Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov’s detention in France.

The TF1 TV channel reported that Durov was put into custody and will be delivered to a court soon. Reportedly, Durov may be charged with various crimes, "including ones related to terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering and child pornography."

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 (banned in Russia), Sputnik Globe informs.

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 (banned in Russia):

"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 (banned in Russia): "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."

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 (banned in RF).

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 (banned in Russia) conservative influencer, warned that "the crackdown against free speech escalates."

Opposition to the Telegram encrypted messaging platform is driven by the West’s desire to surveil online activity and suppress criticism of its foreign policy, according to ex-CIA analyst Larry Johnson.

The analyst made the claim during an interview with Sputnik after news broke that Telegram founder Pavel Durov had been arrested by French authorities after his private jet landed at an airport outside Paris.

“I think the charges are all implausible, false,” said the co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. “They're charging him reportedly with terrorism. And with fraud. So this clearly smacks of a trumped up political case.”

“They're going to charge him with terrorism because he has refused to censor certain groups, people that support Hamas are allowed to communicate freely on Telegram. Telegram is one of the few channels that actually allows information that's critical of Western policy to go on. I think that's really at the root of this.”

Durov reportedly faces a number of charges relating to Telegram’s lack of moderation, which authorities claim implicates him in the sharing of content related to terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, and money laundering.

The platform has become known as a home for political dissidents in the West, who are able to publish content that is discouraged or disallowed on other online platforms.

“There was a time when [Durov] was considered friendly with [French President Emmanuel] Macron,” Johnson recalled. “But that's clearly come and gone because this kind of arrest would not have happened without Macron's knowledge and approval.”

“It's possible that he's being turned into a bargaining chip. But the question is, who's going to bargain for him? He walked away from Russia,” he noted, recalling that the tech entrepreneur left the country in 2014. “The fact of the matter is he left Russia and accepted French citizenship, and has chosen to reside in the [United] Arab Emirates. So he's not high on the priority list of Russian intelligence to get him back by any stretch. He's of no use to Russia in that regard.”

“I think the Westerners – the French in particular – have made a mistake in grabbing him because they think that this is going to somehow create leverage or create an issue with Russia.”

Previously Durov claimed during an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson that the FBI had attempted to encourage one of Telegram’s engineers to create a backdoor in the application for the use of Western intelligence agencies.

Johnson claimed that criticism of the US-backed proxy war in Ukraine and Israel’s military operation in Gaza on Telegram particularly chafed Western authorities. The social media app TikTok was similarly attacked by US legislators earlier this year when legislation was passed to ban the app after this fall’s presidential election.

“I think the major issue with respect to the West is the coverage that [Telegram] provides about what's going on in Ukraine and the coverage he allows with respect to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in the Middle East and in Gaza and the West Bank,” Johnson claimed. “I think particularly the last issue has rankled the Israelis quite a bit. And they've been looking to shut him down. The French reportedly have been looking to shut Telegram down. So we'll see.”

“Even if you're a Russian billionaire you’ve got a big, fat target on your back,” he warned.

Johnson claimed US contributors to Russian media outlets such as Sputnik and RT could continue to face intimidation after FBI raids on the homes of Scott Ritter and Dimitri Simes this month.

“They've already gone after Dimitri Simes,” Johnson noted. “Dimitri is an American who became a naturalized American [citizen] in the 1970s because he was a dissident against the Soviet Union, against the Communist Party. And now the very country that he fled to for freedom and protection has turned on him and has unleashed our version of the secret police on him.”

“If it can happen to someone like Dimitri it can happen to anybody,” said Johnson.

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