Elon Musk defends Pavel Durov after Paris arrest, criticizes Zuckerberg's censorship stance

Musk defends Telegram's Durov after arrest, criticizes Zuckerberg "Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem"

Elon Musk took to social media to defend Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov following his arrest in Paris on Saturday. 

Musk expressed his support with a “#FreePavel” post on X, just hours after the Russian-born billionaire was detained at Le Bourget airport. 

Durov was reportedly arrested due to allegations of enabling criminal activity on his encrypted messaging app, Telegram.

French authorities had issued a search warrant as part of a preliminary investigation, which could only be acted upon if Durov was on French soil. 

Musk, a vocal advocate for free speech, criticized the arrest and took aim at fellow social media billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. 

In a subsequent post on X, Musk questioned why the Meta CEO hasn’t faced similar consequences, accusing him of succumbing to censorship pressure.

Musk wrote, “Because he already caved into censorship pressure. 

Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data.” 

Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, has stated that it complies with law enforcement requests for data if legally compelled, and maintains that both Messenger and WhatsApp are encrypted.

Pavel Durov, who is known for his staunch defense of free speech, founded Telegram in 2013 and has faced criticism from various governments for allowing discreet communication on the platform. 

Despite this, Durov has insisted that Telegram remains a neutral platform focused on protecting users’ privacy and freedom of speech.

Durov, who fled Russia in 2014 after refusing to hand over encrypted user data to Russian officials, is expected to appear before a judge on Sunday. 

He faces charges related to terrorism, narcotics, complicity, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods, and child pornography.