Arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov sparks anger in Russia and Musk

When the CEO of one of the world’s largest social networks is arrested, it is an event of international significance, with potential geopolitical implications. And certainly when it concerns Russian-born Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder of the controversial social media platform Telegram, which has 900 million users worldwide.

Durov (39) was arrested on Saturday evening at the French airport Le Bourget, near Paris, when he arrived there with his private plane from Azerbaijan. The French authorities did not want to officially explain why Durov, who lives in Dubai, was arrested, pending the investigation.

According to French media, an arrest warrant had already been issued against the billionaire, which he was also aware of. It would concern the suspicion that Telegram is not taking sufficient action against money laundering and drug trafficking on the platform, and against the sharing of images or information in relation to the sexual abuse of minors.

Both the Russian government and Elon Musk, CEO of X and kindred spirit of Durov, reacted indignantly to the arrest. Freedom of speech was said to be at stake and even the continued existence of Telegram. Moscow demanded from France on Sunday to be allowed to contact Durov. According to parliamentarian Maria Butina, Durov is now a political prisoner and freedom of speech in Europe is now “dead”.

Unlike Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg or X’s Elon Musk, Pavel Durov rarely appears in public

Musk posted a series of outraged tweets on X about the arrest. He predicted that if things continue like this, you could be executed in Europe by 2030 if you indicate on social media that you like a ‘meme’ (a funny or political picture or video). In a rare interview Durov told right-wing American talk show host Tucker Carlson in April about his departure from Russia: “I’d rather be free than take orders from anyone.” Carlson himself called the arrest on Saturday “a warning to every platform owner who refuses to censor governments or intelligence agencies. Darkness is quickly descending on the formerly free world.”

Less is known about Telegram and how it works than about WhatsApp, Facebook or X. But that does not hinder the popularity of the platform for exchanging and distributing messages. For example, not only private individuals but also both sides in the war in Ukraine make full use of it.

After Donald Trump was banned from X , Facebook and YouTube in 2021 for his role in the storming of the Capitol, usage in the United States, especially among Trump supporters, grew strongly. In the Netherlands, there are said to be more than a million users. Telegram likes to boast that it does not ‘censor’ and that it puts the privacy of its users first. But critics, including Russian dissidents, seriously doubt that last claim.

Roman literature

Durov is Russian, but since 2021 he has also been a French citizen. According to French media, he also has passports from the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis and the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is part. He spent much of his youth in Turin, Italy, where his father worked as a classicist and expert on Roman literature. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the family returned to Russia.

Unlike Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, or Elon Musk, of X, Pavel Durov rarely appears in public. Nevertheless, he has had the image of a brilliant and idiosyncratic maverick for years. He owes this to the way he has positioned himself in a conflict with the Russian state.

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Durov was one of the founders of VKontakte (VK), a kind of Russian version of Facebook, in 2006. When Russian authorities began asking him to remove the pages of opposition politicians or provide information about them in 2011, he reportedly refused. After selling his stake in the company, he left Russia in 2014.

A year earlier, he and his brother Nicolaï had set up Telegram, which is primarily a messaging service. Unlike WhatsApp, for example, it is possible to set up large groups of up to 200,000 members. Moderation (control of statements that violate laws or internal rules) is very limited. This makes it a popular platform for all kinds of illegal and criminal activities.

A protester demonstrates against the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov near the French embassy in Moscow on Sunday. Photo Yulia Morozova / Reuters

Russia blocked Telegram in 2018, but reversed its block in 2020. It is now unclear what the relationship between Moscow and Durov is. Durov himself has said that the FBI has tried to look into the data of Telegram users. In turn, Russian activists critical of President Putin’s government say they have indications that Russian authorities have free access to the platform’s “secret chats” function, while according to Telegram such chats can only be read by the sender and recipient.

The trade journal for digital technology Wired wrote that it is not possible to determine whether Russian intelligence services have cracked Telegram’s system, or whether Telegram gives them access to user data and messages. In any case, dissidents’ confidence in the platform would have plummeted.

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Besides Russia, Europe and the US, Telegram is also widely used in parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa – by individuals (in Brazil, Telegram is on half of all mobile phones), but also by organisations that want to spread propaganda. The Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group, among others, are said to have made extensive use of it in African countries, to the anger of France, to create sentiment against the former coloniser.

Telegram is also often an important means of communication for activists against repressive regimes, such as for the Hong Kong protesters who demonstrated against Chinese freedom-restricting laws in 2019-2020. In Ukraine, the government uses Telegram to warn citizens about Russian airstrikes, among other things. In Russia, the use and importance of Telegram has grown after Moscow banned most Western social media over the past two years.

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