Former NSA employee Edward Snowden commented on the detention of the founder of VKontakte and Telegram, Pavel Durov, in Paris. He called the incident an attack on freedom of speech.
I am surprised and deeply saddened that Macron has stooped to hostage-taking as a means of gaining access to private communications. This humiliates not only France, but the world.
In 2013, Snowden gave the press materials indicating that US intelligence agencies were spying on citizens through leading Internet companies. He soon managed to obtain asylum in Russia. In September 2022, he received Russian citizenship.
The Paris Prosecutor's Office, to which Pavel Durov's case was transferred, plans to make a statement to the press on Monday, August 26.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov was detained late in the evening on August 24 after his plane landed at a Paris airport. Durov arrived in France from Azerbaijan and planned to spend only one night in the French capital. He was detained by security forces upon exiting the plane.
According to AFP, the detention is related to the French authorities' claims regarding the content moderation policy on Telegram. The authorities believe that the messenger's administration has not been effective enough in combating the use of the platform for illegal activities. In this regard, Durov may face charges of involvement in crimes such as "drug trafficking", "crimes against children" and "fraud".
Earlier www1.ru reported that Durov's arrest complies with the EU Digital Services Act, but the document does not imply criminal prosecution.