A dangerous precedent? Telegram CEO’s arrest a new front in war over speech
Al Jazeera
Pavel Durov’s arrest highlights debate about whether platforms are responsible for the speech of their users.
In the war for control of the internet, the potential significance of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest is difficult to overstate.
At the heart of French authorities’ case against the Russian-born billionaire is an enormously consequential question: are online platforms legally responsible for the speech of their users?
Prosecutors say Durov was detained as part of an investigation involving 12 criminal allegations, most of them related to “complicity” in serious crimes ranging from drug trafficking to the distribution of child sex abuse material.
While governments around the world have for years sought to exert greater control over online speech – cracking down on everything from racial hatred and internet bullying to “misinformation” about the COVID-19 pandemic – the arrest of a tech founder by a liberal democracy has few, if any, precedents.
Perhaps the closest parallel is the case of Facebook executive Diego Dzodan, who was arrested by Brazilian authorities in 2016 over the tech company’s alleged refusal to hand over WhatsApp messages related to a drug trafficking investigation.
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