Pavel Durov's Arrest Should Be A Major Warning To Elon Musk
Pavel Durov's Arrest Should Be A Major Warning To Elon Musk
Ignoring responsibility has a price.
Pavel Durov is who Elon Musk wished he was. He is the hard-line, free-speech-absolutist billionaire social media founder of the infamous Russian Telegram messaging app. Telegram famously has zero moderation and complete encryption, giving users total anonymity. As such, it is loved by both political protesters trying to topple dictatorships, and criminal organisations alike. Unlike Durov, who built Telegram from scratch and has an untarnished free speech absolutism track record, Musk had to buy his social media empire, and his free speech track record is far from perfect. Sure, he basically annihilated Twitter’s content moderation team when he took over, removing all accountability on the platform. But he has also repeatedly deplatformed X/Twitter profiles that are critical of him. However, Durov’s recent arrest should be a wake-up call for Musk, as while their approaches are different, Musk could still suffer the same fate as Durov.
So, why was Durov arrested?
Well, it was because of a lack of moderation on Telegram. The French Police considered that the lack of moderation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the app. What criminal activity? Well, we don’t know the details yet, but reports suggest it was around Telegram enabling vast amounts of Russian propaganda within France, likely linked to the French elections and the Ukraine war.
Musk brilliantly misunderstood the situation and posted on X/Twitter in response to the arrest: “It’s 2030 in Europe, and you’re being executed for liking a meme.” This misguided hyperbole is utterly stupid and demonstrates how little Musk understands law, free speech, and just society in general.
France and the EU have warned Durov about this potential arrest. Back in 2023, the EU brought into law the Digital Services Act, which imposes requirements on social media companies to help prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation. It seems authorities warned Durov that he was in breach of this act. But, rather than ensure his products complied, Durov said he would keep the app a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics”.
Now, putting aside the fact that Durov’s inaction is actually turning Telegram into one of the most potent tools of modern geopolitics, you might be forgiven for thinking the EU is being hypocritical here. After all, free speech is a protected right in the EU, just as it is in all Western democracies. So, surely, the Digital Services Act goes against this?
Well, no. Free speech doesn’t work like that. It never has. What’s more, free speech laws do not apply to social media platforms in that way. Let me explain.
Firstly, Telegram and X/Twitter are private social companies. Social media is not integral to free speech, just as the press wasn’t considered a part of free speech back when free speech laws were written. In other words, you are allowed to say whatever you want, but that doesn’t mean people or companies have to listen or publish your speech. This, in turn, also means that as Telegram and X/Twitter are private companies, they have no obligation under law to publish everything their users post/send. In fact, as a private company, both Telegram and X/Twitter have a duty of care for their users, customers, and advertisers to ensure they are not exposed to deleterious speech. Failure of this could lead to damage to users or enable criminal information to spread, such as political misinformation, inciting violence, hate speech, scams, etc., opening up the company to lawsuits from individuals or governments damaged by said speech. Where the line is drawn here on whether the responsibility lies on the user or the platform is admittedly blurry, but Telegram and X/Twitter have definitely stepped over it.
So, not only does free speech not apply to social media sites in the way Musk and Durov claim, but a free speech absolutist approach to social media represents a huge lapse in corporate responsibility, is unprotected by law, and arguably just a bad business model (something which X/Twitters books backs up).
But most of all, free speech laws have never protected deleterious speech, no matter what country you come from. Take the US’s 1st Amendment, which explicitly doesn’t cover speech that amounts to fraud, child pornography, speech integral to illegal conduct, speech that incites imminent lawless action, speech that violates intellectual property law, true threats, or false statements of fact. European free speech laws are very similar, and they don’t protect speech that incites violence, child pornography, hate speech, or damaging political misinformation. These limitations of free speech make absolute sense when you sit and think it about it for even a second, as these forms of speech should be punishable as they are incredibly damaging to individuals, society, businesses and government. Hence, no government, no matter how democratic and free, has ever adopted absolutist free speech policies.
This means that both Telegram and X/Twitter are enabling unprotected and illegal speech. But it isn’t just these two; pretty much every social media platform, from Facebook to TikTok, has this problem. Hence why the EU could enact the Digital Services Act, as it enables them to hold these companies accountable for mass disseminating illegal unprotected speech.
So Telegram’s zero moderation obviously ran a fowl of this law, leading to Durov’s arrest. But what about X/Twitter? How bad is it in comparison, and is Musk really at risk of being arrested?
Well, X/Twitter has been accused of breaching the Digital Services Act multiple times. There has also been a well-documented steep increase in hate speech and misinformation (particularly election misinformation) once Musk took over. Musk himself has even spread election misinformation. There is also a well-documented increase in the presence of white supremacists and even outed Nazis on X/Twitter, many of which Musk himself interacts with positively. Unsurprisingly, X/Twitter was also found to have the highest rate of Russian propaganda of any social media platform, making it a direct threat to Western Democracy. To top this all off, misinformation and hate speech spread via X/Twitter, which Musk himself promoted, was one of the leading causes of the recent race riots in the UK, and the UK government is mulling over bringing Elon in for questioning over this.
In other words, yes, the state of X/Twitter could be enough for European countries to treat Musk the same way they have Durov.
Now, unlike Telegram, which has no moderation at all, and Durov, who has French citizenship, X/Twitter still has a slither moderation, and Musk isn’t a citizen of any EU country. As such, no matter how much EU law enforcement wants to, they might not be able to hold Musk accountable the same way they have Durov.
But nonetheless, Durov’s detention should be a warning for Musk. You see, Musk doesn’t really believe in free speech absolutism, as is apparent from his banning accounts and the like. In truth, Musk is actually cosplaying as a free-speech absolutist to muddy the waters and enable him and his questionable friends to manipulate the public and government through unrestricted misinformation. As such, he faces a double-edged sword. Not only is his social media platform breaking EU law by enabling this speech, but by engaging with it and telegraphing out this damaging and unprotected speech to his millions of followers, Musk could also be breaking EU hate-motivated speech laws. With all of this looming over his head, surely Musk has to ask himself if his bid for mass manipulation is worth it? That being said, no one has ever held him accountable, so probably not.
**Since writing, it has been revealed that Durov’s arrest was for unmoderated child pornography on Telegram (and potentially more) (read here). This makes Elon’s support of Durov deeply questionable. It also doesn’t take the spotlight off X/Twitter, as regulators are very aware of a documented increase in CP on the platform since Musk’s takeover. To find out more, read here and here.**
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Sources: The Independent, The Independent, Fortune, The Guardian, Axios, AP, AP, The Guardian, Social Media Today, EU, Will Lockett