Pavel Durov Detained in Paris; Musk Calls it an Attack on Free Speech

Pavel Durov, the Russia-born creator of the Telegram app was detained at Paris’ Le Bourget airport on Saturday, with his detention extended by French magistrates. The businessman had been detained upon arrival from Baku on his private jet on suspicion of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, promotion of terrorism and cyberbullying.

In a dramatic turn, French investigators issued an arrest warrant for Durov on charges of not doing enough to tackle criminal use of his platform effectively.

Telegram said in response that the allegations were unfounded-the company complies with EU law and does its best to moderate illegal content: “Durov has nothing to hide and regularly visits Europe”.

It added in a statement: “Telegram complies with the legislation of the EU, including the Digital Services Act – its moderation is within the colander of industry standards and constantly improving. The Telegram CEO, Pavel Durov, has nothing to hide and travels extensively throughout Europe. It is absurd to assert that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse of that very same platform. We are looking forward to a prompt resolution of this situation.

The government of Russia lashed out at France, citing a lack of cooperation and demanding access to Durov.

Durov’s detention is a surprising turn of events in the career of the tech world’s powerful figure. In 2014, he had left Russia after rejecting the Kremlin demands. Since then, Telegram has been among the prime sources of information and disinformation related to the Ukraine war.

Elon Musk attacked the authorities in Europe after Pavel Durov was arrested and termed the incident an attack on free speech. Musk has gone to his socials to demand justice for the incident of Durov. Replying to a post by American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who went all doomsday, saying, “It’s Telegram today. It’ll be X tomorrow,” Musk replied in agreement, “He’s right.”