FX168 Financial News Agency (Asia Pacific) reported that Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested by the National Anti-Fraud Office at a French airport. He was put on the wanted list a few minutes before getting off the plane, which led to panic selling in the currency circle. The TON token he founded still failed to regain buying on Monday (August 26). Billionaire Elon Musk, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin (V God) and other global giants voiced their support, while Russia pointed the finger at the United States.
Over the weekend, the European and American markets ushered in a bombshell. Telegram, a global communication software with 900 million users, had an accident. Durov was arrested in France and detained by agents of the French National Anti-Fraud Office. He was arrested after traveling from Azerbaijan to Paris Le Bourget Airport, which specializes in serving private jets, with a woman and her bodyguard.
In response to this incident, Telegram issued a statement on its official Twitter account (now renamed X): "Telegram complies with EU laws, including the Digital Services Act, and its audits meet industry standards and are constantly improving. Telegram CEO Durov is not hiding and often travels in Europe."
Read more:Telegram Founder Arrest in France Sparks Conspiracy Theories, Toncoin Plummets 20%, DOGS Faces Pre-Listing Crisis
The statement continued: "It is absurd to claim that 'a platform or platform owner is responsible for abuse on the platform'. Nearly one billion users around the world use Telegram as a means of communication and an important source of information. The team is waiting for a quick resolution to this situation."
âïž Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act â its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving.
âïž Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.
đ”âđ« It is absurd to claim that a platform or its ownerâŠ
â Telegram Messenger (@telegram) August 25, 2024
Musk posted a video with the hashtag #FreePavel on Twitter to support Durov again. In the video, Durov said in an interview that Musk's acquisition of Twitter has made speech more free, which is a great progress, and humans need more social media like Twitter and Telegram that protect freedom of speech.
#FreePavel
pic.twitter.com/B7AcJWswMs
â Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024
a
âDangerous times,â he wrote in response to another tweet that mentioned similar incidents, including in the UK.
Read more:Justin Sun Offers $1 Million to Support Telegram Founder Pavel Durov
Vitalik said: âI have criticized Telegram before for not taking encryption seriously enough, but based on the information currently available, the charges seem to be just âunregulatedâ and did not leak peopleâs data) arresting the founder looks very bad and is worrying about the future of software and communication freedom in Europe.â
I've criticized Telegram before for not being serious with encryption.
But (given the info available so far: the charge seems to be just being \"unmoderated\" and not giving up people's data), this looks very bad and worrying for the future of software and comms freedom in Europe.
â vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 25, 2024
In response to the arrest of Telegramâs founder, Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu said: âWe are committed to supporting our friends in the TON community in their fight for freedom. Decentralization is the solution to resist censorship and preserve freedom and rights.â
We are committed and stand by our frens @ton_blockchain community in this fight against freedom. Decentralization is the solution against censorship resistance and preserving our freedom and liberties #FREEDUROV https://t.co/zlmaJD34tU
â Yat Siu (@ysiu) August 25, 2024
Robert Kennedy Jr., who just gave up the US presidential campaign in November, said: "The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent."
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski also spoke about Durov's arrest. He wrote: "France has already threatened Rumble, and now they have crossed the red line and arrested Durov, allegedly because he did not censor speech."
According to Fox News, the Durov incident has a greater impact, and the government will next hold Musk and Twitter accountable.
Read more:Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski, who has previously been involved in a legal battle with France, quickly left Europe after the arrest of Telegram founder
Well-known opinion leader Joey Mannarino wrote: "They attacked Telegram to have an excuse to attack Twitter and Musk next."
Theyâre going after Telegram so they have a pretext to go after X and Elon next.
Just wait and see. It never ends where you think it ends.
â Joey Mannarino (@JoeyMannarinoUS) August 25, 2024
Ekaterina Mizulina, head of the Russian Alliance for a Secure Internet, believes that Durov's arrest in France was a request from the United States. She wrote on her personal Telegram channel: "I have long believed that the head of Telegram is in danger outside Russia and may be arrested at any time. Similar situations have occurred before at the request of the United States. I originally thought that no one touched him because he might have cooperated with Western intelligence agencies, but recent news shows that everything seems to be different."
In addition, Mizulina believes that the arrest of Durov is to crack down on the super currency Toncoin (TON) circulating on Telegram. She said that in this way, the United States will continue its sanctions policy.
In the early Asian market on Monday, TON continued its weak trend over the weekend and took a breath at $5.77.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Vladislav Davankov, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma, called on the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media to immediately block the websites of major French companies operating in Russia.
Davankov, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma, called on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to try to rescue Durov, and said that he had sent a corresponding request to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Russian Embassy in France has taken necessary measures to understand Durov's situation.
Durov was born in 1984. The media said that he has multiple nationalities including Russia, France, and the United Arab Emirates. It is reported that because Durov is a French citizen, he will not be exchanged or extradited to other countries.
