Durov's arrest has triggered a heated debate with most influencers seeing it as an onslaught on free speech. A hashtag #FreeDurov popped up on X.
Former US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tweeted: "France just arrested Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the encrypted and uncensored Telegram platform. The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent."
Naomi Seibt, a German conservative political activist, dubbed anti-Greta by the Washington Post, alleged on X:
"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."
Candace Owens, an African American conservative television presenter, tweeted: "The trouble with free speech is that it disallows the media to set the narrative. They used to be able to justify war to you in a faraway land. Now you can see the reality of what they are doing. This is why Pavel Durov has been arrested - because the demons are losing control."
Italian film producer, Robin Monotti, remarked on X: "Pavel Durov is facing up to 20 years in Macron's dungeons for refusing to censor content on behalf of the globalist oligarchy and their war machine."
Do Western Governments Want to Control Telegram Better?
In addition to ridiculing France's accusations against Durov, social media users recall that the Telegram CEO had told US journalist, Tucker Carlson, that Western intelligence agencies were after him, apparently seeking to use his platform to spy on users. As of 2024, the messenger has around 900 million monthly active users.
Mario Nawfal, named an "omnipresent Twitter celebrity" by NBC, wondered why Western corporate press stays mute about the Telegram CEO's arrest.
"Why aren't there articles on mainstream media about Pavel Durov, the CEO and founder of Telegram, being arrested in France because people allegedly used his app to commit 'crimes'? Why the silence?" he asked on X.
In a separate tweet, the influencer alleged that "the US wanted to control Telegram better."
He cited an excerpt from Durov's interview to Carlson, in which the Russian tech prodigy described how US cyber-security officers approached a Telegram engineer seeking a backdoor to the messenger. "Whenever I would go to the US, I would have two FBI agents greet me at the airport, asking questions," Durov said at the time.
For his part, crypto investor, Shaun Maguire, compared Durov's detainment to Vint Cerf and Rob Kahn (inventors of TCP and IP) being arrested because the Internet "is being used for drug dealers to communicate with each other, and they were unwilling to install a back door." Elon Musk agreed on this observation with one word – "Exactly."
Robert Malone, a US medical doctor and an infectious-disease researcher, who threw into question the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, also took to X to comment on Durov's arrest: "I am sickened by Pavel Durov's arrest. France is another unsafe country to travel to. The Western world has gone crazy."
Kim Dotcom, an X conservative influencer, warned that "the crackdown against free speech escalates."