French President Emmanuel Macron requested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov to maneuver the corporate headquarters to Paris again in 2018, a proposal he refused.
Quick ahead six years and Durov was arrested in France on the behest of the Macron regime.
The revelations have been first revealed in a bombshell report from The Wall Avenue Journal:
Six years earlier than Pavel Durov landed in a French holding cell, the antiestablishment founding father of the messaging app Telegram was in a really totally different place in France: having lunch with President Emmanuel Macron.
On the lunch in 2018, which hasn’t been beforehand reported, Macron invited the Russian-born Durov to maneuver Telegram to Paris, folks aware of the discussions mentioned. Durov declined on the time. The French chief even mentioned granting French citizenship to him, one of many folks mentioned. A French official mentioned Durov requested Macron for citizenship.
On Saturday, French authorities detained Durov in an investigation that poses essentially the most severe menace to the antiauthority ethos of Telegram for the reason that app was based in 2013. His arrest has introduced into sharp focus the fraught relationships the 39-year-old Durov has had with governments world wide, which have tried to woo and management him, typically failing at each.
In keeping with French prosecutors, Durov is complicit in a wide range of legal actions which embrace enabling drug trafficking and little one pornography for internet hosting a social media platform.
Observe that Mark Zuckerberg isn’t on the arrest checklist regardless of his platforms very public points with little one exploitation.
BREAKING: Telegram CEO Arrested by French Authorities for Refusing to Follow Censorship Laws
Nevertheless, their actual motivation is admittedly about Durov’s refusal to adjust to censorship calls for aimed toward curtaling freedom of speech world wide.
The Related Press notes:
The primary preliminary cost in opposition to him was for ‘’complicity in managing an internet platform to permit illicit transactions by an organized group,’’ a criminal offense that may result in sentences of as much as 10 years in jail and 500,000 euro wonderful, the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned.
Preliminary expenses below French regulation imply magistrates have robust cause to imagine a criminal offense was dedicated however enable extra time for additional investigation. Prosecutors mentioned that Pavel Durov is, “at this stage, the one individual implicated on this case.
They didn’t exclude the chance that different individuals are being investigated, however declined to touch upon different potential arrest warrants. Another arrest warrant could be revealed provided that the goal of such a warrant is detained and knowledgeable of their rights, prosecutors mentioned in an announcement to the AP.
President Macron’s particular involvement in Durov’s arrest nonetheless stays unclear. Earlier this week, he took to the X platform to falsely claim that the French judiciary was performing with “full independence” and that his authorities stays “deeply commmitted to freedom of expressiong and communication.”
I’ve seen false info relating to France following the arrest of Pavel Durov.
France is deeply dedicated to freedom of expression and communication, to innovation, and to the spirit of entrepreneurship. It is going to stay so.
In a state ruled by the rule of regulation,…
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 26, 2024
