France just arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov for his alleged failure to sufficiently limit criminal activity on Telegram. What “criminal activity” translates to in European terms is anyone’s guess. In Britain, criminal activity is liking memes or posting dissident opinions on social media. The New York Times reported that the Telegram app had been on law enforcement radar partially due to its use by “far-right extremist groups” for communicating, recruiting, and organizing. That’s Clue Number One, the only clue anyone should need to understand. Durov’s only criminal activity was refusing to censor the free exchange of ideas.
