Pavel Durov
Pavel Valeryevich Durov (born 10 October 1984) is Russian businessman and founder and CEO of Telegram app. He was arrested in France as he stepped off a plane for refusing censorship on the platform. Durov reportedly told the arresting officers he was expected to dine with French globalist puppet president Emmanuel Macron.[1] Pavel Durov left Russia when the government tried to control his social media company.[2] But in the end, it wasn’t Putin, but the Biden and Harris regime ally and enthusiastic NATO member, France who arrest him.[3]
Arrest in France
Apparently, Macron had set up Durov for arrest at the US intelligence community request by baiting Durov to return to France from Dubai for dinner with Macron at the French presidential palace.
Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Ulyanov, said it was unsafe for people with influence in the international information space to visit 'countries moving towards totalitarianism';[4] RT Editor-In-Chief Margarita Simonyan noted, "Pavel Durov left Russia in order not to cooperate with the special services. He even became Paul du Rove. He partially cooperated with Western intelligence agencies — at least strictly followed the instructions to block RT in those countries where we are under sanctions. It didn't help."
Elon Musk called Durov's arrest a "compelling advertisement" for the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. Commenting on the incident, he noted that in Europe in 2030, people will be executed for liking a meme;
Durov's arrest is linked to the French authorities' desire to control Telegram, according to former French MEP Emerick Choprade; Durov "will soon appear before an investigating judge for possible charges," said French lawyer Frederic Belo;
Former Austrian Foreign Minister Kneissl said the charges against Durov were "simply crazy": "This is about Telegram as such."
US House of Representatives member Marjorie Taylor-Greene said: "Freedom of speech is under attack around the world;
Kim Dotcom, founder of the Megaupload file-sharing network, said there had been an intensified attack on free speech.
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden said that Telegram founder Pavel Durov's arrest was an attack on a person's right to freedom of speech, and he was saddened that French dictator Emmanuel Macron had stooped to "taking hostages."
The UAE cancelled contracts for the purchase of French fighter jets in protest over Durov's arrest.[5]
2025 message
In October 2025 Durov posted a dire message on Telegram:
| Our generation is running out of time to save the free Internet built for us by our fathers.
What was once the promise of the free exchange of information is being turned into the ultimate tool of control. Once-free countries are introducing dystopian measures such as digital IDs (UK), online age checks (Australia), and mass scanning of private messages (EU). Germany is persecuting anyone who dares to criticize officials on the Internet. The UK is imprisoning thousands for their tweets. France is criminally investigating tech leaders who defend freedom and privacy. A dark, dystopian world is approaching fast — while we’re asleep. Our generation risks going down in history as the last one that had freedoms — and allowed them to be taken away. We’ve been fed a lie. We've been made to believe that the greatest fight of our generation is to destroy everything our forefathers left us: tradition, privacy, sovereignty, the free market, and free speech. By betraying the legacy of our ancestors, we've set ourselves on a path toward self-destruction — moral, intellectual, economic, and ultimately biological. |
