“The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.” —George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
Pavel Durov, the co-founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested in France on Saturday, August 24, 2024. He was detained at Le Bourget Airport near Paris after arriving on his private jet from Azerbaijan. French authorities issued an arrest warrant for Durov on charges related to his alleged failure to prevent illegal activities on Telegram, including drug and human trafficking, as well as fraud. Why Telegram could be responsible for the conduct of those who use the service makes no sense. It’s akin to arresting the owners of rental properties because tenets use them for stashing contraband.
In reality, the arrest is connected to Durov’s refusal to cooperate with law enforcement regarding the moderation of content on Telegram. The situation has sparked concerns that politically-motivated detentions are becoming common, in this case as a means to access Telegram user data. Elon Musk has expressed concern about this and there are voices calling for Musk and X to be treated in a manner like Durov and Telegram. Moreover, regulatory agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), are investigating services like Rumble, an alternative to YouTube that eschews political-ideological moderation of content.
Here’s the reason French authorities arrested Durov: the transnational elite want to monitor everything we say, send, and share. That there is a system that allows us to hide information from government authorities drives them up the wall. Users of systems like Telegram are like Winston Smith in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, standing off to the side of the telescreen and keeping secrets with himself. This is intolerable from the point of view of authoritarianism.
freedom and reason 