Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's arrest has ignited a fiery debate online. The 39-year-old entrepreneur was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday. The Russian native was led away by cops upon landing in a private jet. He was wanted by French authorities, who had acquired an international arrest warrant, over a lack of moderation on Telegram. Social media is since abuzz with netizens' calls to “free Durov.” Top tech leaders like Elon Musk and Edward Snowden have also voiced their support for the Telegram co-founder.
Here's what tech leaders said about Pavel Durov's arrest
Shortly after Durov's arrest, Snowden, former American NSA intelligence contractor and whistleblower, took to X, formerly Twitter, to condemn the shocking arrest.
“First they came for Tiktok, and I did not speak out— Because I was not twelve years old. Then they came for the Telegram, and I did not speak out— Because I was using some other app or sth idk. Then they came for literally every other platform for dissent, and I did not speak out— because bro how tf could i that's the entire point wake up wake up wa—,” the 41-year-old wrote.
“The arrest of@Durov is an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association. I am surprised and deeply saddened that Macron has descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications. It lowers not only France, but the world,” Snowden went on in a separate tweet.
{{/usCountry}}“The arrest of@Durov is an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association. I am surprised and deeply saddened that Macron has descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications. It lowers not only France, but the world,” Snowden went on in a separate tweet.
{{/usCountry}}The SpaceX founder's X account was one of the first to mention the “#FreePavel” trend. Musk went on to express his concerns over the attack on free speech with a flurry of posts on his social media platform.
“Being a free speech advocate these days is increasingly feeling like a Kobayashi Maru problem,” he tweeted just hours after Durov's arrest. Meanwhile, Craft Ventures' David Sacks said, “Using allied countries to circumvent First Amendment protections is the new Rendition.”
Computer scientist Paul Graham also called out Durov's arrest in an X post that read, “It's hard to imagine a country both arresting the founder of Telegram and being a major startup hub.”