The arrest of Telegram’s founder endangers the future of free expression and privacy rights, multiple civil liberties advocates told the Caller.
Durov’s arrest was spearheaded by France’s OFMIN, the agency tasked with protecting children from violence. Various governments — the U.S., U.K. and the European Union (E.U.) — have advanced legislation aimed at protecting children online. However, critics say these policies could be weaponized to chill freedom of speech and greenlight government censorship.
“[Kid’s] safety is a very useful pretext for censors,” the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO) told the Caller in a statement, comparing the issue to a “trojan horse.”
“Unlike other common excuses, like ‘disinformation’ and ‘hate speech,’ it is a real issue that the public is strongly concerned about.”
OFMIN issued the arrest warrant for a preliminary investigation into allegations of drug trafficking, fraud, cyberbullying, “organised crime and promotion of terrorism,” France 24 reported. Durov was ultimately charged Wednesday with complicity in the spread of sexual images of children.
Maybe Pavel Durov is some sort of horrible criminal. But to date, no evidence at all has been provided indicating that’s the case. Despite this, the establishment media and civil libertarians have been completely muted about his arrest. What we are seeing today is a broad based… https://t.co/K1XUzAfrPF
— Neil Patel (@NeilPatelTDC) August 27, 2024
Civil liberties groups decried the arrest and expressed concerns about the shaky future of free expression. (RELATED: FLASHBACK: Arrested Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Told Tucker US Government Wanted To Spy On His Users)
“Communications platforms like Telegram are a vital part of internet architecture and fundamental drivers of free speech,” Joe Mullin, Senior Policy Analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), said in a statement.
He noted that if Durov was arrested for Telegram’s moderation policies, it jeopardizes the privacy and free speech rights of users. Mullin commented on the lack of details about Durov’s arrest, noting how Telegram is used by “hundreds of millions” of individuals globally.
“Those users’ rights to free expression are at stake,” he concluded.
France’s Tribunal Judiciaire De Paris released a statement Monday listing out the 12 charges facing Durov.
BREAKING: 12 charges announced against Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov: pic.twitter.com/b9wACVF0Aw
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 26, 2024
The French government investigated Telegram because of the site’s moderation policies and lack of cooperation with authorities, arguing Telegram was “complicit” in certain illegal activities, according to the French outlet TF1 Info.
“I think Pavel’s arrest is concerning,” Toby Young, Founder and General Secretary of the U.K.-based Free Speech Union (FSU) told the Caller. “Would you arrest the head of the telephone company if someone made a threatening phone call? Pavel cannot be held responsible for everything that’s said on Telegram.”
He added that although some individuals will abuse Telegram’s lack of censorship, the platform provides people with the freedom to criticize authoritarian regimes.
Durov was born in Russia and is also a citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates. He fled Russia in 2014 after he refused to hand over encrypted data from the Russian social network VKontakte (VK) — which Durov founded — to authorities. He also denied a request by Russian authorities to ban opposition parties from the platform. (RELATED: REPORT: Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Arrested At French Airport)
“The specific nature of the charges against Durov are unclear at this time,” Aaron Terr, Director of Public Advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), told the Caller in a statement. “But to the extent Durov was arrested simply for failing to moderate Telegram more aggressively, that raises concerns about government control over online speech.”
Telegram released a statement claiming it adheres to E.U. regulations like the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The objective of the DSA is to “prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation,” according to the European Commission.
“Arresting platform executives because of their alleged failures to sufficiently moderate content, even content as disturbing and harmful as content that harms children, starts us down a dangerous road that threatens free expression and gives too much power to the government to suppress speech,” Kate Ruane, the Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s (CDT) Free Expression Project, said in a statement to the Caller.
She explained how his arrest paves the way for governments to escalate censorship, threatening the privacy and freedom of expression of users.
“The dangers are all the more acute in the context of end-to-end encrypted services, where platforms do not even have access to the content of messages,” Ruane added.
The arrest of Durov is not the first time governments have taken action to address harmful online content, specifically for children.
A 2023 E.U. document obtained by WIRED detailed a proposal to force tech companies to scan users’ private messages for illegal content, potentially jeopardizing end-to-end encryption and digital privacy.
In the US, the Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) — a bill aimed at protecting children from harmful content online — in July. Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul wrote a letter to his colleagues warning of the possible dangers of KOSA. He claimed it would stifle the First Amendment. Paul pointed to the bill’s vague text, also calling it a “trojan horse.”
“Protecting children from serious harm is crucial, but governments too often try to achieve that goal through overly broad and vague regulations that open the door to unchecked censorship,” FIRE’s Aaron Terr told the Caller.
Critics attacked KOSA as overly broad legislation that posed threats to online anonymity. KOSA would be overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), thus subject to the whims of whichever administration is in power. (RELATED: Jonathan Turley Slams ‘Global Censors,’ Says Americans Should Be Afraid After Telegram Arrest)
“Consult the text of KOSA and similar bills in other countries, and you’ll find vaguely defined prohibitions against online ‘bullying’ and ‘harassment’ – both tried-and-true fig leaves for suppressing political speech,” FFO stated.
Similarly, the U.K. instituted the Online Safety Act in 2023 to implement protections for adults and children online. The bill was criticized for potentially enabling government censorship of the internet.
After riots swept across the U.K. this summer, the government is considering enhancing the Online Safety Act to tackle “incitements to violence or hate speech,” Reuters reported.
The FSU’s Toby Young said there are methods for platforms to protect people online, including age verification for children and adjustable safety settings for adults.
We’re disappointed the Online Safety Bill has been passed. But thanks to us and other free speech advocacy groups, it’s a slight improvement on earlier versions:
* The obligation on social media companies to remove ‘legal but harmful’ content has been removed.
* The new Harmful…
— The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) September 20, 2023
“People are the best judges of what’s ‘safe’ for them to see, not governments,” Young told the Caller.
