‘Dangerous times’, says Elon Musk when commenting on the arrest of Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram

On the night of last Saturday (24), the arrest of the 39-year-old Russian billionaire was confirmed Pavel DurovCEO and founder of Telegram, in France. The executive was arrested as he disembarked from his private jet which landed at the airport Paris-Le Bourget.

According to sources heard by Reuters, Durov was arrested as a result of a French police investigation which, in its preliminary phase, points to problems in Telegram’s content moderation and the impact of this on the dissemination of various illicit practices through the application.

This issue of the implications surrounding content moderation is of direct interest to another renowned executive who also works directly in the management of a mass communication platform: Elon Musk, the owner of X.

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In a comment to a post on X that deals with some facts related to a weakening of freedom of expression in some regions, including the arrest of Durov, Elon Musk stated that we live in “dangerous times”.

Dangerous times https://t.co/FuB6NEWOqr

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024

The South African businessman also shared a video of Durov’s interview with conservative Tucker Carson and used the hashtag #FreePavel.

#FreePavel
pic.twitter.com/B7AcJWswMs

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024

France’s accusations against Telegram

Telegram has been facing criticism from the French government due to the way in which the platform fails to moderate and intervene in the circulation of certain content on the platform. Among the topics cited are organized crime, drug smuggling, promotion of terrorism and even child abuse.

Durov has publicly opposed countries requesting data from Telegram users, even when the subject is criminal investigations. In Brazil, Telegram was temporarily suspended in 2022 and 2023 on the grounds that it did not provide user data to the Federal Police that could contribute to investigations into neo-Nazi groups within the platform.

Telegram has also faced similar obstacles in Germany, Norway, Russia, China, Iran and Belarus.