The arrest of Pavel Durov leaves the telegram hanging in the balance
“Civil Society has had a complex relationship with Telegram for years,” says Natalia Krapiva of the digital rights group Access Now. Elon Musk has also posted about Durov’s detention, spreading the hashtag #FreePavel. In response to an article about Telegram’s arrest, Musk wrote: “POV – It’s 2030 and you’re getting executed for liking memes.” “The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who on Friday endorsed Donald Trump for US president, wrote on X, where he referred to Telegram as “uncensored” and “encrypted.”
While Telegram is frequently described as an encrypted messaging app, messages are not end-to-end encrypted by default, and senior executives previously told WIRED that they view the platform as a social network. This is largely because of Channels, a one-to many broadcast feature which allows unlimited subscribers view posts. “But, in the end it wasn’t Putin that arrested him because he allowed the public to exercise freedom of speech,” Carlson wrote. The post has been viewed at least 5.7 million times. Carlson also linked to an hour-long interview he did with Durov earlier this year, one of the first and only interviews that Telegram CEO has given in recent years. Carlson linked to a one-hour interview with Durov he conducted earlier this year. It was the only interview the Telegram CEO had given in the past few years. “Nobody was prepared for this situation.” Asked if he worried about Telegram’s future and who could run the company in Durov’s absence, Lobushkin says: “
worry a lot.”
TF1Info, which first broke the news in France of Durov’s arrest, reported that it was “beyond doubt” that Durov would remain in custody during the investigation. “Pavel Durov will end up in pretrial detention, that’s for sure,” one unnamed investigator told reporters.
“No one in Telegram was prepared for such a scenario,” says Anton Rozenberg, who worked with Durov from the early days of VK in 2007, before working for Telegram from 2016 to 2017. Rozenberg predicted that Durov would get the best possible legal defense. Rozenberg said that Durov, who is personally involved in the running of the company, would be a huge problem for the messenger. “But without him the messenger could have big problems with management, crucial decisions, and even payments,” added Rozenberg, citing Durov’s involvement. Rozenberg did not see a suitable replacement for Durov who is responsible for nearly all aspects of Telegram, including finance, development, product design and monetization. It’s a bit like a government depending on how long it lasts, isn’t it? Campo confirms: “As far I know, Pavel made the payments.” Campo says that “as far as I know, Pavel made the payments.”
