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On August 24, Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the mostly unregulated Telegram, a social media platform favored by far-right extremists, was arrested in Paris. He’s being investigated on charges relating to Telegram’s alleged involvement in aiding money laundering, drug trafficking, and child pornography.
Telegram is a favorite platform for white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and other extremists, and Durov a hero for allowing just about any kind of content on his platform. Many users expressed alarm over Durov’s arrest and what it might mean for their communications and claimed that a crackdown on hate speech was in the offing. Also, as is common with world events, including the recent Mpox outbreak, Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential election, and the attempted assassination on Donald Trump, the far right has once again taken to social media to spread a wide array of antisemitism and other conspiracies about Durov’s arrest.
On Telegram, the official Telegram News channel posted that “Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act” and that “it is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.” Several far-right accounts, including White Lives Matter Montana, Georgia Election Audit Updates, and the Traditional Britain Group all reshared the post. Prominent MAGA influencers including Jack Posobiec posted videos of an interview between Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claiming that Durov’s arrest was “encourage[d]” by the Biden administration, and that these actions are the “hallmark of dictatorship.”
A channel dedicated to Steve Bannon’s podcast “War Room” posted that the “arrest of Pavel Durov represents major escalation in [the] arms race between censors and the people.” In the comment sections of the Georgia Election Audit Updates channel, one person posted “That is what will happen to many of us if the communists get selected (sic). Our nation needs to repent and turn from our wicked ways… then will God hear us!”
Several Proud Boys chapters, including the Cape Fear Proud Boys, who use Telegram as their preferred platform, posted warnings to other Proud Boys chapters and “patriot group(s)” to find an “alternative means of communication.” Proud Boys Long Island said that Durov’s arrest shows that “they still won’t leave us alone,” “they hate us because of what we stand for,” and insinuated that the arrest was made based on “U.S. political interests.” They later shared another antisemitic conspiratorial post questioning whether Israel could be responsible for Durov’s arrest, saying “1,000% Israel is behind EVERYTHING going wrong and communist!”
The white nationalist Identitarian movement, primarily based in Europe, rallied around Durov as a “free speech” hero. Martin Sellner, de-facto leader of the Identitarian movement, dedicated a podcast episode to discussing Durov’s arrest. Heimatkurier, an Identitarian news outlet based in Austria, posted an article in support of Durov and other “free speech” social media platform owners such as Elon Musk (X/Twitter) and Chris Pavlovski (Rumble).
The transnational white supremacist movement White Lives Matter (WLM) announced their support for Durov. The WLM France channel shared a photo of someone wearing a “White Boy Summer” t-shirt, a phrase coined by Chet Hanks and co-opted by the far right to spread bigotry, standing in front of the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, France, with a sign saying “#Free Pavel Durov.” The post was also shared in the WLM Russia chat group.
A WLM supporter in Strasbourg publicly supporting Durov at the European Court of Human Rights (Source: Telegram)
On Gab, a far-right platform with a similar interface to Twitter, users reacted by disseminating a wide array of conspiracy theories. Comments on the platform were panicked about the “deep state” and the apparent global “Unified Police State” which is “driven and coordinated by [their] masters in the US.” Others claimed this is “just the beginning” of an elaborate conspiracy including the “execution of YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki,” who passed away due to lung cancer in August, “the mysterious illnesses of Anthony Fauci,” and supposed “vaccine mass murder.” Part of this conspiracy, according to users, includes the “US deep state mass surveillance dragnet… assimilat[ing] or destroy[ing]” social media platforms which refuse to censor harmful content.” This conspiracy is supposedly related to preventing the expansion of BRICS, an intergovernmental organization made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and other developing countries, since it is “crushing the West.”
Some more historically common conspiracy theories that flourished during the pandemic, like fear of “globalists” and the World Economic Forum (WEF), were also common. There were also several antisemitic comments about Jews being behind censorship and that “they” will be targeting Elon Musk next.
On Rumble, a video platform that hosted the RNC debates, users were quick to blame the “American deep state,” Jews, and “globalists” for Durov’s arrest. Rumble’s CEO, Chris Pavlovski, announced on Twitter that he “departed Europe” after France “threatened Rumble” and “crossed a red line by arresting Telegram’s CEO.”
On Twitter, several far-right figures chimed in with conspiratorial rhetoric and paranoia over coming censorship and even arrests. Far-right social media figure Candace Owens responded to Durov’s arrest by saying “The western world is not free. Perhaps it has never been.” Jean-Yves Le Gallou, co-founder of the far-right think tank Iliad Institute, called France a “dictatorship” and compared Durov’s arrest to the USSR sending “dissidents to the gulag.” Cercle Aristote, a far-right intellectual group, tweeted that following Durov’s “political” arrest, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg would all soon be arrested for the same reasons.
