Snowden, Kennedy Jr, Musk Condemn Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's Arrest As Attack On Free Speech

New Delhi: The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France has sparked a debate on social media with several prominent people and tech leads voicing their concerns against his arrest. The 39-year-old billionaire from Russia was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday. Durov was led away by cops upon landing in a private jet. The French authorities issued the arrest warrant in connection with allegations against his messaging app, Telegram. Social media is since abuzz with netizens' calls to “free Durov.”

Voicing their concerns, tech mogul Elon Musk and Edward Snowden have also come forward in backing the Telegram co-founder.

How world reacted to Pavel Durov's arrest:

Soon after the the reports of Durov's arrest surfaced, Edward Snowden, former American NSA intelligence contractor and whistleblower, condemned the arrest.

Taking to X, Snowden tweeted, "First they came for Tiktok, and I did not speak out—Because I was not twelve years old. Then they came for the Telegram, and I did not speak out—Because I was using some other app or sth idk. Then they came for literally every other platform for dissent, and I did not speak out—because bro how tf could i that's the entire point wake up wake up wa—"

"The arrest of @Durov is an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association. I am surprised and deeply saddened that Macron has descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications. It lowers not only France, but the world," he wrote in another tweet.

Soon after the SpaceX chief Elon Musk X publicly supported Durov and condemned his arrest. He was one of the first to mention the “#FreePavel” trend.

Musk used Kobayashi Maru as an analogy to compare the mental state of a free speech advocate.

Musk tweeted, "Being a free speech advocate these days is increasingly feeling like a Kobayashi Maru problem(sic)."

The Kobayashi Maru is a training exercise that teaches the value of resilience, the importance of making decisions in difficult situations, and the need to accept that not all problems have a clear solution.  Musk went on to share his views over "the attack on free speech" in a series of posts on his social media platform.

Meanwhile US politician Robert F Kennedy Jr also voiced his opinion and said "the need to protect free speech has never been more urgent."

He tweeted, "France just arrested Pavel Durov, founder & CEO of the encrypted, uncensored Telegram platform. The need to protect free speech has never been more urgent."

While Craft Ventures' David Sacks said, “Using allied countries to circumvent First Amendment protections is the new Rendition.”

On the other hand, Computer scientist Paul Graham called out Durov's arrest. Condemning the arrest, he wondered how a country like France arrest the Telegram founder when it is in itself a major startup hub.

“It's hard to imagine a country both arresting the founder of Telegram and being a major startup hub,” he wrote in a post on X.