Arrest of “Pavel Durov” The Leak Project and Western Freedom Of Speech.
A few nights ago, the French media reported the arrest of Durov when he left his private plane at the French airport. French media announced that Durov was arrested under charges such as Telegram’s non-cooperation with the country’s authorities, money laundering, and drug trafficking, and he may face 20 years in prison.
On the other hand, the French authorities have claimed that Durov is complicit in charges such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and sharing pornographic images of children on the Telegram messenger due to weak content monitoring and unwillingness to cooperate with the judicial system.
Who is the Russian genius who is a citizen of the UAE?
Pavel Valeryovich Durov, who is now 40 years old, was born in 1984 in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2007, in his hometown of St. Petersburg, he founded the most popular Russian social network, VK (VKontakte), which is very popular among the people of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Belarus.
As the founder and CEO of Telegram, Durov launched this messenger in 2013; The social network that now has 950 million active users and is expected to reach one billion active users next year. This messenger is one of the most popular social networks in Russia, Ukraine and other countries separated from the Soviet Union.
Durov left the country in 2014 after refusing the request of the Russian government to shut down opposition-related groups on the VContact social network and currently resides in the United Arab Emirates.
Durov also has dual citizenship in France and UAE. Forbes estimates Durov’s assets to be worth $15.5 billion.
The cost of standing up to US spy services
After Durov’s arrest, which seems to have been extended again, the world’s public mind has turned to the intelligence and security institutions of Western countries according to the available documents and evidence. American journalist and analyst Tucker Carlson stated in response to this news that Durov was arrested because he refused the orders of governments and intelligence agencies to “censor reality”.
Carlson wrote on X social network early Sunday morning: Durov left Russia when the Russian government tried to control the social media company. But in the end, it wasn’t Russian President Vladimir Putin who got arrested for allowing people to exercise free speech. Rather, it was a Western country, an ally of the Biden administration and a member of NATO that arrested him.
This American journalist added: Pavel Durov is in a French prison tonight. He is a living warning to the owners of platforms that refuse to obey the orders of governments and intelligence agencies to censor reality. Darkness quickly descends upon the formerly free world.