Pavel Durov’s journey has all the trimmings of the fabled underdog-turned-billionaire story.
The 39-year-old entrepreneur established two tech platforms: One has develop into Russia’s reply to Fb, whereas the opposite turned a competitor to WhatsApp. No marvel he’s dubbed the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia.
His internet value is estimated to be roughly $15.5 billion, in keeping with Forbes. The messaging app he based, Telegram, is alleged to be value over $30 billion and is mulling a public itemizing.
However Durov’s legacy as a tech champion is now in query. On Saturday, he was arrested in Paris in reference to an investigation into Telegram’s alleged use as a platform for prison exercise.
There’s little the world is aware of about Durov past glimpses of his life on social media, the place he’s wearing largely black apparel and pictured in opposition to scenic landscapes. Nonetheless, when Durov makes a uncommon media look, it usually grabs curiosity. For example, he spoke to far-right speak present host Tucker Carlson about his views on social media platforms in April, and mentioned in July that he had fathered over 100 youngsters by sperm donation.
His detention by French authorities has sparked reactions from the likes of Elon Musk and set off a broader dialog on subjects the tech world is grappling with, resembling free speech and content material moderation.
From the Soviet Union to Europe and past
Durov was born in Russia, the place he and his household lived till he was 4. They then moved to Italy, the place Durov needed to adapt to a distinct language and tradition. In an interview, he advised Carlson that his academics advised him he was doomed to fail, which constructed his aggressive spirit and led him to excel as a pupil.
Durov and his household finally returned to Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the place he accomplished his schooling and based VKontakte (now known as “VK”), a Fb-like platform, in 2006. It proved a large success and rapidly turned the nation’s largest social networking web site.
Ultimately, nonetheless, the Kremlin started meddling with the corporate’s administration, demanding extra management of the platform and inflicting Durov to go away VK and Russia in 2014.
A 12 months earlier than he fled, Durov, alongside together with his brother, Nikolai, arrange Telegram, making it an uncensored and easy-to-access software for all.
After years of shifting round Europe and Asia, right now, the messaging platform—and Durov himself—are each primarily based in Dubai. He additionally holds citizenship within the UAE, France, and the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Telegram has earned a popularity, which will be good or unhealthy, relying on who you ask. With a comparatively slim crew of fifty or so full-time staff, the app has proved to be a important communication device throughout the Russia-Ukraine battle. It presents options that its rivals don’t; as an example, its teams can accommodate as much as 200,000 individuals versus WhatsApp’s 1,000 cap. It additionally supplies encryption, permits using cryptocurrency, and presents premium subscriptions.
Chesnot/Getty Photographs
However some corners of Telegram have come underneath hearth for allegedly spawning prison actions starting from little one pornography to terrorism to misinformation. The platform has gone comparatively mild on content material moderation, which is believed to be the rationale why illicit content material is extra extensively obtainable on Telegram.
“Because of the large slice of activity on #Telegram that is not & has never been end-to-end encrypted, Pavel’s detention is clearly alarming many Telegram users left wondering about the privacy of what they have said in the past & who might be able to access it,” John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher on the Citizen Lab of College of Toronto, wrote in a publish on X.
Nations have been flagging these threats extra not too long ago: On Tuesday, South Korea known as for an investigation into sexually express deepfake photographs and movies of girls circulated over Telegram chats. Brazil quickly banned Telegram for declining to share details about neo-Nazi teams with the nation’s police authorities final 12 months. Unesco highlighted in an investigation in 2022 that about half of Holocaust-related posts on Telegram both denied or distorted the info.
Durov advised the Monetary Instances earlier this 12 months that Telegram would up its moderation efforts utilizing AI however didn’t intend to police individuals “unless they cross red lines.” Following its chief’s arrest, Telegram mentioned its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving.”
What does Durov’s arrest imply for social media corporations?
Telegram has largely managed to subject accusations of facilitating criminality on its platform. By way of all of it, Durov has maintained that he goals to guard free speech on the messaging platform.
“Privacy, ultimately, is more important than our fear of bad things happening, like terrorism,” he posted in 2015, in keeping with the New York Instances.
Meta has been caught in a tussle of its personal for years concerning free speech, censorship, and content material moderation. Elon Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” whose platform, X, has been underneath EU scrutiny concerning its content material moderation, swooped in to help Durov following his arrest.
#FreePavel
pic.twitter.com/B7AcJWswMs— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2024
It’s a tough stability, however arresting the CEOs of tech platforms will not be the perfect answer, Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Mission on the Washington, D.C.-based Heart for Democracy & Expertise, advised the Washington Submit.
“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,” she mentioned.
Telegram is nearing 1 billion customers worldwide. Though it’s nonetheless unclear if Durov’s arrest might change how the app operates, it definitely will increase the stakes round the way it moderates the content material shared over its platform by freewheeling unhealthy actors.
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