NEWS ALERT!!! CEO of popular messaging app arrested in Europe

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From Reuters: Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV and BFM TV said, citing unidentified sources.

TF1 and BFM both said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police had no comment. Russia, which has in the past tried to ban Telegram, said it was taking steps to “clarify” Durov’s situation.

Russian-born Durov, 39, is founder and owner of messaging app Telegram, a free to use platform that competes with other social media platforms such as Facebook’s WhatsApp, or Instagram, TikTok and Wechat. The platform aims to surpass one billion active monthly users within a year.

Telegram is influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It has become a critical source of information on Russia’s war in Ukraine, used heavily by both Moscow and Kyiv officials. Some analysts call the app “a virtual battlefield” for the war.

Durov is being accused of failing to properly moderate users on the Telegram platform and failing to take action to curb the “criminal use” of the app.  He has reportedly been charged with multiple alleged offences including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime and promotion of terrorism.

Reuters explains that Russia started blocking Telegram in 2018 after the company refused to turn over access to its users’ encrypted messages.

Several other European countries, including France, has targeted Telegram over “security and data breach concerns.”

Many are voicing their outrage on social media over the news of Durov’s arrest, noting that it is ultimately because he refused to suppress free speech, and warning that Elon Musk may be at risk as well.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reacted to the news, writing on X, “France just arrested Pavel Durov, founder & CEO of the encrypted, uncensored Telegram platform. The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent.”

Dr. Robert Malone wrote, “I am sickened by Pavel Durov’s arrest. France is another unsafe country to travel to. The Western world has gone crazy.”

Podcast host Tucker Carlson wrote, “Pavel Durov left Russia when the government tried to control his social media company, Telegram. But in the end, it wasn’t Putin who arrested him for allowing the public to exercise free speech. It was a western country, a Biden administration ally and enthusiastic NATO member, that locked him away. Pavel Durov sits in a French jail tonight, a living warning to any platform owner who refuses to censor the truth at the behest of governments and intel agencies. Darkness is descending fast on the formerly free world. Here’s our interview with Durov from several months ago:”

Journalist Ian Miles Cheong wrote:

Pavel Durov, the man behind Telegram, has been arrested by the French authorities simply for refusing to bow down to their censorship demands. They’re throwing the book at him with trumped-up charges like terrorism, drug trafficking, and even pedophile content – all because he stood for free speech.

This is nothing but a witch hunt, an attempt to clamp down on the last bastions of free communication. They’re terrified of the truth getting out, so they label everything they can’t control as ‘terrorism’ or ‘hate speech’. It’s the EU’s latest move to strangle our right to speak freely, to share information without their Orwellian oversight.

They’re after him because Telegram doesn’t bend the knee to their narrative control. This is about silencing dissent and controlling information. They want to turn the internet into another arm of their propaganda machine. We’re watching freedom of speech being attacked right before our eyes.

Make no mistake, they’re using this to set a precedent which they will then use to go after Elon Musk and X.

Dr. Simon Goddek wrote, “BREAKING: Pavel Durov stood up to the EU’s censorship and now faces false charges of everything from terrorism to ped0phiIia – all for protecting ‘free speech’. Next in their sights? Elon Musk. The EU is no longer a democracy – it’s becoming a dictatorship..”

“Why do you think they just arrested the OWNER OF TELEGRAM, Pavel Durov? This is a test run. They are setting a precedent. Their ultimate target is Elon Musk,” warned Naomi Seibt.

Mike Cernovich warned, “The UK threatened to arrest Elon Musk because he allows freedom of speech in X. France arrested Pavel Durov of Telegram for not allowing intelligence agencies to spy on users. This was a clear death threat against Elon Musk and all Americans.”

Below is a stunning segment of Durov’s recent interview with Tucker Carlson. X user Shadow of Ezra explained:

Telegram founder Pavel Durov recently revealed to Tucker Carlson that the FBI approached a Telegram engineer, attempting to secretly hire him to install a backdoor that would allow U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on users.

The FBI also hired agents to infiltrate ‘anti-vaxx’ Telegram groups, with FBI contractors creating multiple fake online identities to join chatrooms run by groups opposing vaccine mandates.

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