Following Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France on Saturday, tech billionaire Elon Musk has come out in support of Durov, praising him for upholding free speech and not giving up on the government’s censorship pressure. Musk has been championing free speech for quite some time and it was one of the key reasons behind purchasing Twitter back in October 2022.
A number of industry leaders have come out in support of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, following his arrest on charges of allowing illicit and criminal activities on the Telegram messaging app. The arrest soon led to the downfall in the Toncoin price, which is now trading 16.33% down at $5.69 as of press time.
Elon Musk also shared one of the old interviews Durov with American journalist Tucker Carlson, wherein Durov explained the intimidating tactics of the US Government and the FBI to poach one of the engineers of Telegram and give them behind-the-curtains access to the messaging app. He said that the officials were trying to persuade the engineer to integrate some open-source tools into Telegram, which would give them backdoor access.
While Elon Musk and other industry tech players have been supporting Durov, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been tight-lipped on this matter so far. Musk also slammed Zuckerberg in response to a tweet that questioned why aren’t authorities arresting Zuck for enabling child predator accounts on the Instagram platform. Responding to it, Musk wrote:
“Because he already caved into censorship pressure. Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data”.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has also backed the Telegram CEO saying that he had previously banned Durov for not being serious with encryption. However, he added that the charges on Durov are unmoderated and “looks very bad and worrying for the future of software and comms freedom in Europe”.
One of the users on the X platform also stated that despite the fact that top messaging apps like WhatsApp and iMessage have end-to-end encryption, they provide backdoor access to the government. Responding to this, Vitalik said: “This is why we need open source and formal verification of security properties”. Vitalik Buterin has been a strong proponent of decentralized technology explaining how Ethereum is taking effective measures in that direction.
Some market analysts also predict that Elon Musk’s X and video platform Rumble are the next targets for government agencies. Chris Pavlovski, the CEO of online video platform Rumble, stated that France has crossed the Red line and he has decided to depart from Europe. In a message on the X platform, Pavlovski wrote:
“I’m a little late to this, but for good reason — I’ve just safely departed from Europe. France has threatened Rumble, and now they have crossed a red line by arresting Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, reportedly for not censoring speech. Rumble will not stand for this behavior and will use every legal means available to fight for freedom of expression, a universal human right. We are currently fighting in the courts of France, and we hope for Pavel Durov’s immediate release”.
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