Russia has lashed out at the perceived silence of the West over the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, saying it shows the West’s two-faced approach to freedom of expression.
“Tens of millions of social media users are outraged, as are many independent public figures, while the neoliberal elites remain deathly silent,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
Durov, a Saint Petersburg-born French citizen whom Politico dubbed “Russia’s Elon Musk,” co-founded the cloud-based messaging service Telegram with his brother in 2013.
On August 24, French authorities detain the tech billionaire upon his arrival at Paris–Le Bourget Airport from Azerbaijan.
His arrest concerned illicit activity that French prosecutor Laure Beccuau alleged had been allowed to take place on Telegram, including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images, and the platform’s refusal to share information with authorities when requested.