The highly innovative, inspiring, and Chief Executive Officer of Telegram – Pavel Durov was recently released after being detained by police and this provoked discussions within the technosphere. As was stated, Durov is a man who is the champion of people’s rights to privacy and free speech and the founder of the popular app called Telegram; however, he was once again challenged by legal issues that prevented him from doing his job at Telegram for some time. His detention prompted concerns of users and human rights activists since it may potentially have far-reaching effects on freedom of speech across cyberspace.
Some of the facts regarding the arrest of Durov are still unknown but according to some sources, the arrest was connected with the further escalation of conflict between the implementing IT-entrepreneurs and certain governmental structures in some regions. While still a chief developer of the project, Durov has been quite persistent with the idea of Telegram’s independence from governmental control, a position that alienated him from officials who seek more control over ‘’popular’’ platforms of communication.
However, the freedom that Durov got was cheered by the international forum for many. Despite focusing on encrypted messaging and users’ anonymity, Telegram remained popular, perhaps because free speech is threatened in many countries around the world. Durov is very consistent with these principles and he has many fans, and quite recently he was arrested which made him even more persistent in fighting for user rights.
With Durov back at Telegram, this is a painful lesson for the technology entrepreneurs who fight for the users’ privacy. It will be interesting to see how Durov will be coping with the difficulties in the future but for now, his release could be considered as a turning point in the struggle of defending internet freedom.
