Technology entrepreneur John Matze said the arrest of Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov was an “existential threat to free speech” and could set a dangerous precedent that could have global ramifications and put freedoms at risk.
“This should be big news. This is part of the ongoing war on privacy and free speech around the world,” Matze told Fox News Digital.
Matze noted that privacy is a constitutional right and a fundamental human right for all Americans, and that this should include encryption and the ability to communicate with large groups of people.
“This is a very serious threat to both privacy and free speech,” Matze said.
French prosecutors indict Telegram CEO Pavel Durov after release
John Matze co-founded Parler in 2018, a platform that grew popular among free speech believers before being shut down for failing to moderate “hateful content.” Matze has since launched Hedgehog, a community “built for ordinary Americans to get the biggest news of the day and have quality discussion about it,” and remains a staunch defender of free speech.
Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday as part of a larger investigation that began earlier this year. French prosecutors allege he enabled criminal activity on messaging apps, and a judge ordered him released on bail of 5 million euros. Durov is banned from leaving France until further investigations are completed.
The charges against Durov are: French nationalThese include allegations that Telegram's platform is being used to circulate child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that the company has refused to share information and documents with investigators despite being required by law to do so.
According to prosecutors, the first preliminary charge against him is “conspiracy to operate an online platform enabling illegal transactions by an organised group”, which could lead to up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros.
Matze believes Durov, who fled Russia in 2014 after refusing to bow to Kremlin censorship demands at his previous company, was targeted by the French government because “he normally does not cooperate with government requests for information.”
Matze co-founded Parler in 2018, a platform that grew popular among free speech believers before being shut down for failing to police “hateful content.” He later launched Hedgehog, a community “built for ordinary Americans to get the biggest news of the day and have quality discussion about it,” and remains a staunch defender of free speech.
RFK Jr., Elon Musk and others react to Telegram CEO arrest in France: 'A red line has been crossed'
The plight of Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov has tech entrepreneur John Matze worried. (Left: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Right: Fox News)
“In 2021, my company was deplatformed and taken offline over false accusations about content moderation. What's happening with Telegram is a repeat of that situation, with very reactionary groups pushing to censor content and remove privacy from the platform,” Matze said.
“I'm thinking passionately about this,” he continued. “Are the founders of social media or the owners of social media companies legally liable? And should they be held liable, as they're accused of, for what people do on their platforms?”
Telegram, which reportedly reached 700 million monthly users in 2023, uses both artificial intelligence and human moderators to monitor public channels and groups. It is hugely popular in India, where it has 100 million users, and in France, where it is used by less than 10% of the population.
“This is important because in developing countries and areas where there is conflict or war going on right now, Telegram gives you the ability to broadcast messages to a large audience, similar to how you would broadcast a message on a social media feed,” Matze said.
“In war zones and places where freedom of speech is not respected and people are really fighting for their lives, people can get information out to a lot of people very quickly, mostly without moderation and without the risk of local authorities in those areas finding out who the individuals are who are fighting for their freedom and their lives,” he added.
French authorities launched a preliminary investigation into Telegram in February after the company showed “almost no reaction” to judicial requests for data to track down suspects accused of crimes against children, prosecutors said.
Matze is not only outraged by Durov's arrest, but also believes it shows widespread hypocrisy in the way various messaging platforms are treated.
Hedgehog CEO says new social media platform is a community 'for ordinary Americans', not for bad actors
Hedgehog CEO John Matze said the arrest of Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov was an “existential threat to free speech.” (Hedgehog)
“There's a movement in the West towards increasingly strict hate speech laws and other laws that seek to increase censorship. What's really strange and unique about this is that criminal activity is taking place on a platform and they're being held accountable,” Matze said, noting that Meta-owned rival WhatsApp has a significantly larger user base.
Matze said similar accusations against Durov of using encryption without authorization are not only false and hypocritical, but also set a terrible precedent.
“To say encryption is now illegal is pretty scary because all of these platforms have some kind of encryption, particularly WhatsApp and Facebook's products have end-to-end encryption, so that's pretty scary,” he said.
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― Fox News Digital's Bradford Betts contributed to this report.
