The arrest in Paris of Pavel Durov, billionaire founder of Telegram, is an unprecedented move against a senior executive of a social media platform that refuses to moderate its output. No explanation was given, though French media linked it to the content of the Telegram app.
This is widely used in Russia to disseminate video and news about the war with Ukraine. It is unfiltered and predominantly in the Russian language. It has been used to spread false information and pro-Kremlin propaganda. Ironically, Mr Durov is no obvious friend of the Russian regime having been forced to flee his homeland 10 years ago for refusing to hand over data to the security police. He now has French and UAE citizenship.
Yet Moscow accused France of suppressing free speech, a laughable response given the manipulation of news about the Ukraine conflict. The French authorities have complained about the lack of moderators of Telegram’s content and accused the company of allowing criminal activity on the platform.
There may be wider implications here. The UK government among others has been demanding that social media outlets do more to take down harmful and violent content. But with the companies incorporated in America, threats of legal action are largely meaningless. The people at the very top often consider themselves beyond the law. Mr Durov has discovered that is not the case, in France at least.
Elon Musk was among those criticising the arrest, possibly seeing himself as a potential target. He said that Europe was becoming a continent of authoritarian states. But while there are free speech considerations here, this does not mean that social media platforms can simply do what they like. If they are worried about government interference they should do far more to moderate their content.