Assuming accurate reporting, I strongly condemn the recent arrest of Telegram’s #PavelDurov in France. Refusing to moderate other’s speech is not terrorism. It is not conspiracy to commit a crime.
Pavel’s arrest is a stain on the central fraternity between France and the US in supposedly being the world’s defenders of free speech and liberty. France is continuing an unfortunate tradition our governments have of ignoring our values whenever it is convenient. This is both wrong and short sighted.
While I understand the “Telegram is not E2EE and gives full access to Russia” sentiment (e.g.,
WIRED
The Kremlin Has Entered Your Telegram Chat
Russian antiwar activists placed their faith in Telegram, a supposedly secure messaging app. How does Putin’s regime seem to know their every move?
), I believe this is an L take. In this context, it is saying if you are capable of moderating then you should be required to do so per government orders.
Any precedent set here will be used against other platforms. We should be extremely uncomfortable about this situation. We are violating the long-standing principle of going after the criminals and not the mediums they use. You can pretend that Signal/WhatsApp is somehow incapable of modifying their client to add monitoring, but they are definitely capable of monitoring usage and just choose not to record that metadata.
Geopolitically this is an unprecedented, massive propaganda win for Russia. As they continue to suppress freedom at home, they can now credibly say they’re fighting to free him.
Make no mistake, Telegram is harmful. They do not care about free speech or privacy for their users. Their business model exploits access to your messages. Just because a fascist regime enjoys special access does not mean you should join in the facism. It is as simple as “two wrongs do not make a right.”
Last week I presented a paper at E-Vote ID: “Revisiting Silent Coercion” — This was joint work with a large team, and it took years. Jeremy Clark deserves the most credit for getting this paper published. 🙏
The paper explores “coercion” (vote buying, forcing someone to vote the way you’d like) that is “silent” (voter doesn’t know about it).
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