By Shaun Maguire
Compiled by: Block unicorn
48 hours ago, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested when his private plane landed near Paris.
The Russian government has called for Durov to be deported to Russia, where Telegram has nearly 1 billion active users. However, Telegram has sometimes been used for bad purposes, such as terrorist communications and the distribution of child pornography (two of the worst things you can imagine).
Based on these facts, what conclusion can you draw other than that Durov is a villain?
But this is wrong. Most people have this story backwards. Durov is actually a hero.
Durov’s first company, VK, was once Russia’s largest social network. Durov founded it when he was just a child, around 21 years old. The company was seized by the Russian government after Durov refused to cooperate with the government.
The experience was a major shift for Durov, who founded Telegram after leaving VK. He designed Telegram from all angles to ensure it would avoid working with authoritarian governments. He wanted to create a platform that could help citizens communicate with each other across borders and authoritarian regimes.
Somehow, people around the world now tend to assume the worst about Durov. “This app was used for bad things, and he’s Russian, so he must be a bad guy!” But they forget that Telegram played an important role in many democratic protests over the past decade. Many people are calling the 2020 Belarusian protests the “Telegram Revolution.” Here are some headlines and excerpts from the Associated Press in 2020.
Now let's dig a little deeper. Pavel Durov became a French citizen in 2021. How did he get this passport? It's a rare achievement in France, and this passport was provided by Macron himself. We don't know why Macron gave him this passport, but perhaps it was because of Telegram's role in helping to organize protests in Russian proxy countries?
Somehow the narrative in the West over the past 48 hours (outside of X) has been one that assumes Durov is guilty rather than innocent. The French government just brought 12 charges against him, most of which involve horrific crimes like “involving possession of pornographic images of minors.” You might be asking yourself, “I know Telegram was used to send messages like this, so how can he be innocent?”
You overlook the fact that Durov has been an enemy of authoritarian governments all his adult life. Many Western governments are rapidly becoming authoritarian, so Durov is now their enemy as well.
You also ignore the Russian extradition request, which Russia would gain three benefits by making:
They shame their Western enemies and expose the decay of the liberal values on which they are based.
They discredited Durov - for being one of their enemies.
If he is extradited to Russia, then they will have leverage over him and perhaps finally get the backdoor they have always wanted.
I don't know the French system well enough to know how much influence President Macron has, but from the outside he has always struck me as a man who cares about justice. I hope he can find a way to intervene.
These charges against Durov could be leveled against any social media platform. I cannot stress to you how important the next few days are. Western liberal values are under attack as never before, in a way that few truly understand.
"If freedom of speech is taken away, we are led as silent as lambs to the slaughter." -George Washington
struggle!