I’ve just read the wiki page on Durov. He’s a very interesting person.
I have also seen dozens of tweets by people claiming that this is going to really hurt Russia, but I can’t see how. It seems his brother is still free to run Telegram.
Anybody have better insight into why this will hurt Russia?
What I’ve heard secondhand is that apparently Russia has been using it for government & military communication and worries that will be compromised now.
Although the arrest is supposedly about the proliferation of scammers and traffickers on Telegraph, I suspect the French want to cut a deal with Durov where he admits that Telegraph has been in cahoots with the Kremlin to flush out anti-war activists in Russia.
Maybe this article has answers you seek.
My understanding is that Durov is basically exiled from Russia, specifically because Telegram wouldn’t help Russia spy on their users. But I’ve only got a very surface understanding of the story, so that might be incorrect.
Telegram has 900 million users. The company argues they cannot be responsible for so many people.
I tend to agree, not knowing much else about Telegram. But I also think big companies with the resources to do something about problems often choose not to do so and invoke free speech rather than making things better. Free speech is indeed important and also has limits.