Pavel Durov’s Naivete Was His Achilles’ Heel

Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko's Newsletter

State sovereignty is a reality of International Relations, and those who deny it do so at their own risk regardless of whether they disagree with the forms in which it’s expressed, which Durov just learned the hard way after naively believing that he was invincible for reasons of wealth and ideology.

Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France last weekend as part of an investigation into his platform’s alleged facilitation of crimes like child pornography and drug trafficking has prompted a global outcry against the EU’s hypocritical crackdown on free speech. He’s since been released on bail, but the exact circumstances of his arrest still remain murky. What’s known for sure though is that he was arrested upon landing in Paris, either to refuel, dine with a lady friend, or have dinner with Macron.

In any case, Durov’s naivete was his Achilles’ heel since he never imagined that he’d be detained on any pretext – let alone by his naturalized country of France (he’s a citizen of multiple states) – due to his immense wealth. He also believed that the era of states was inevitably ending and would be replaced by an era where companies such as his command more power than many states. Despite knowing that Telegram was being investigated by the EU, he still didn’t fear going there.

Another factor that influenced his thinking was the celebrity status that he obtained in the West for infamously defying his native Russia’s reported request over a decade ago to hand over information about some users who were allegedly engaged in terrorist activity upon a court order. As a transnational socialite whose encrypted platform played a key role in organizing Color Revolutions across the world, Durov truly felt that he was too valuable to the West to detain, let alone prosecute.


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