RFK Jr., Elon Musk and others reacted to the news that Telegram messaging app CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France while speaking out in support of free speech on social media.
“The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent,” RFK Jr. wrote in X, reacting to the news, just days after endorsing former President Trump.
Billionaire and CEO of messaging app Telegram Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV and BFM TV reported, Reuters reported. According to TF1, Durov was served with an arrest warrant in connection with a preliminary police investigation.
The investigation concerns the company's messaging app, as French police believe there are not enough moderators to keep criminal activity under control, TF1 reported.
Elon Musk and RFK Jr. spoke out in support of free speech as they reacted to the news that Telegram CEO Pavel Durov had been arrested in France. (Left: ((Photo by Richard Bord/WireImage), Center: (Photo by AOP.Press/Corbis via Getty Images), Right: (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images))
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Musk, who also posted “#FreePavel” on social media following the reports, mentioned the arrest in multiple posts.
“Dangerous times,” he wrote, responding to another tweet that referred to similar cases, including in England.
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski also spoke out about Durov's arrest.
“France has threatened Rumble, and now it has crossed a red line by arresting Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, apparently for failing to censor speech,” he wrote.
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Ian Miles Cheong, a conservative commentator, argued that the arrest was part of a witch hunt.
“It's about silencing dissenters and controlling information. They want to turn the internet into another arm of their propaganda machine. We are seeing freedom of expression under attack before our very eyes,” he wrote.
Others suggested this would have wider implications and that governments would be next to target Musk and X.
“They are attacking Telegram so they have a pretext to attack X and Elon later,” wrote Joey Mannarino.
Others, including William Shatner, celebrated Durov's arrest.
“The CEO of @telegram was arrested today in France for failing to moderate their platform. Good. They do nothing to prevent fraud and scams. I'm tired of scammers using that platform to impersonate me,” he wrote.
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Telegram, which has more than 900 million users, is a messaging app comparable to WhatsApp, but according to The New York Times, it also allows large groups of people to communicate across different channels.
The New York Times also reported that the app was “on the radar of law enforcement agencies around the world because terrorist organizations, drug traffickers, arms dealers and far-right extremist groups have used it to communicate, recruit and organize.”
Fox News' Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
