Crypto community rallies behind Telegram founder Pavel Durov on heels of arrest

Movers and shakers within the cryptocurrency community took to social media Sunday to express support for billionaire Pavel Durov after French authorities arrested the Telegram founder at an airport near Paris.

According to French authorities, there was a warrant for Durov’s arrest due to the entrepreneur’s failure to adequately moderate criminal activity on Telegram. 

The price of Toncoin (TON) plummeted after news of the arrest broke. TON, a digital asset associated with the Telegram social media platform, fell to a low of $5.25 — its lowest point since Aug. 8 — and 27% below the highest point this year.

Notcoin (NOT), a token for a popular tap-to-earn mini-app on Telegram, dropped to $0.0090, down by over 25% from its highest level last week.

Notably, Hamster Kombat pre-market futures, fell to $0.19, down from last week’s high of $0.2553. 

Authorities have yet to make the finer details of Durov’s arrest public. However, according to the Financial Times, there is an ongoing investigation into whether Telegram and its members wield the platform for illicit activities like money laundering, terrorism, and child exploitation.

Earlier this month, Telegram was scrutinized for allowing users to openly share far-right and neo-Nazi views to the point where groups used the app to organize riots in the UK.

The app is also accused of failing to cooperate with investigators over drug trafficking, child pornography and fraud. Telegram denies having insufficient moderation, according to BBC.

Crypto entrepreneurs and billionaires respond

French President Emmanuel Macron has been cracking down on social media companies and aggressively enforcing content moderation. 

For example, Rumble — a U.S. and Canadian YouTube competitor — was forced to suspend its operations in the country for refusing to block pro-Russian news sources.

In an X post, Chris Pavlovski, Rumble’s CEO said:

Other social media companies have also been under pressure to moderate content.

X, formerly known as Twitter, recently shut down its Brazilian operations after a Supreme Court judge threatened locking up its employees.

X owner Elon Musk has also come under fire from Thierry Breton, an EU commissioner, for failing to moderate content on X. 

Musk also takes issue with the word “moderate,” which he equates to censorship.

Musk, the richest person in the world with an approximate net worth of $222 billion, also took the opportunity to blast other social media companies, including Meta Platforms and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. See below.

While Zuckerberg has never been arrested, the Facebook founder was sued for allegedly not protecting children from sexual abuse and human trafficking.

A judge has since dropped Zuckerberg from the lawsuit.

Telegram, which has over 900 million active users, has become popular because of its minimal approach t content moderation. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Durov noted that he moved from Russia to Dubai after authorities threatened to take over the platform.

He also revealed that he was regularly followed by Federal Bureau of Investigations whenever he visited the U.S.

Durov’s arrest also drew the ire of entrepreneur Kim Schmitz, aka Kim Dotcom.

Schmitz, who founded BitCache, criticized Macron and touted support for Durov with the hashtag “FreePavel.”

In another statement, billionaire David Sacks, the co-founder of Craft, and a former PayPal Chief Operating Officer, posted unfounded claims that the U.S. was using France to circumvent the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech.

There is no link between the U.S. and Purov’s arrest as of press time. 

Michael van de Poppe, a popular crypto analyst, with over 723,000 followers, sent a post calling for his release. 

Meanwhile, Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s (ETH) co-founder, warned that Durov’s arrest looked very bad for the future of software and communication freedom in Europe.

Writing on the TON’s price action, DaanCrypto, another analyst with almost 400,000 followers, warned that the coin could have a short squeeze if Durov is released.

He pointed to the big Binance Coin (BNB) dip after Binance and Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering allegations.