Elon Musk posts #FreePavel after Telegram founder's arrest

Elon Musk defended Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov after his arrest in Paris on Saturday and criticized fellow social media billionaire Mark Zuckerberg for giving in to “censorship pressure.”

Musk wrote “#FreePavel” on X, hours after the Russian billionaire exile was arrested at Le Bourget airport, reportedly on charges that he allowed criminal activity through his encrypted messaging app.

French authorities issued a search warrant as part of a preliminary investigation into Durov – a staunch defender of freedom of expression – and Telegram, but could only comply with the order if the 39-year-old was on French soil.

Musk, who said he bought X – formerly Twitter – to promote free speech, strongly condemned the Russian-born tech entrepreneur's arrest in a post. He wrote “#FreePavel” and shared a clip of Durov praising X for representing innovation and free speech.

In a subsequent post to X, Musk took a sharp swipe at fellow social media star Mark Zuckerberg, quoting someone in a tweet asking why Meta's CEO had not been arrested on charges similar to those of Pavel.

Musk wrote: “Because he's already caved in to censorship pressure. Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but Zuck isn't getting arrested for censoring free speech and giving governments backdoor access to user data.”

Facebook owner Meta says it complies with law enforcement requests for data when legally required to do so. Both Messenger and WhatsApp are encrypted, meaning third parties – including Meta – cannot access the data.

The 39-year-old Durov is best known as the founder of the social network VK (VKontakte) and the messaging app Telegram.

He founded Telegram in 2013 with his brother Nikolai, but fled Russia in 2014 after refusing to hand over encrypted user data to Russian officials or to silence anti-government communities. He later sold that data.

In 2018, Russia blocked Telegram when the app refused to comply with a court order to share its encryption keys, but the ban was lifted in 2020.

The app, which places great value on user privacy, has been criticized by many governments for allowing militant activists and organized crime to communicate discreetly.

In addition, it has become an important source of information in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Durov, whose fortune is estimated at $15.5 billion, stresses that Telegram is a neutral social media platform and not a “geopolitical actor.”

“I think it's the best place for a neutral platform like ours if we want to make sure that we can protect the privacy and freedom of expression of our users,” he told Tucker Carlson earlier this year.

Durov is due to appear in court on Sunday. He is accused of terrorism, drug offenses, complicity, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods and child pornography.

Meta did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment on Sunday.