{"id":157469,"date":"2025-05-19T15:00:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptodnes.bg\/en\/?p=157469"},"modified":"2025-05-19T03:54:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T00:54:21","slug":"pavel-durov-exposes-european-governments-attempt-to-muzzle-political-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptodnes.bg\/en\/pavel-durov-exposes-european-governments-attempt-to-muzzle-political-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Pavel Durov Exposes European Government\u2019s Attempt to Muzzle Political Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a strongly worded public <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/durov\/418\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">statement<\/a><\/strong>, Durov suggested that a European country \u2014 subtly referenced with a baguette emoji \u2014 attempted to influence the platform\u2019s content moderation policies by targeting conservative voices. He refused the request, calling it a contradiction of democratic values.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t defend democracy by eroding its core principles,\u201d he wrote, stressing that real elections demand both transparency and freedom of speech.<\/p>\n<p>Durov, who has long advocated for digital privacy and free expression, has built Telegram into a widely used platform in the crypto and tech communities \u2014 particularly for its commitment to user autonomy.<\/p>\n<style>\n    .dark-mode .read-more {background-color: #343a40 !important;}\n<\/style>\n<div class=\"read-more pb-3 pt-3 pt-md-2 px-3 my-4 border bg-light\">\n    <h5 class=\"text-uppercase border-bottom mb-3 pb-1 d-none d-md-block\">READ MORE:<\/h5>\n    <a class=\"article row\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptodnes.bg\/en\/as-moodys-downgrades-u-s-bitcoin-signals-investor-confidence\/\" title=\"As Moody\u2019s Downgrades U.S., Bitcoin Signals Investor Confidence\">\n        <div class=\"contentRight col-4\">\n            <span class=\"imgContainer mt-0\">\n                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image img-defer\" src=\"https:\/\/cryptodnes.bg\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/07\/bitcoin-7-15-240x170.jpg\">\n            <\/span>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"contentLeft col-8\">\n            <h4 class=\"title mb-0\">As Moody\u2019s Downgrades U.S., Bitcoin Signals Investor Confidence<\/h4>           \n            \n        <\/div>        \n    <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time Durov has clashed with European authorities. In August 2024, he was briefly arrested in France under circumstances that drew backlash from crypto advocates and free speech defenders. Critics called it a politically motivated move designed to pressure Telegram into tighter censorship, a claim the French government denied.<\/p>\n<p>Following Durov\u2019s detention, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski \u2014 who also faced regulatory threats \u2014 announced his exit from the EU, citing similar concerns over growing hostility toward platforms that resist state-imposed content controls.<\/p>\n<p>Durov has since reiterated that Telegram follows the law when handling legitimate requests from law enforcement and maintains a legal representative in France. However, he accused French authorities of circumventing this process by issuing an arrest warrant instead of pursuing the proper legal channels.<\/p>\n<p>As debates over speech, elections, and digital rights intensify across Europe, Durov\u2019s stance has become symbolic of a broader fight between centralized regulation and decentralized expression in the age of global platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Telegram founder Pavel Durov has revealed that he pushed back against pressure from a Western European government to censor political content on the messaging app in the lead-up to Romania\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":111414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-others"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pavel Durov Exposes European Government\u2019s Attempt to Muzzle Political Speech<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Telegram founder Pavel Durov has revealed that he pushed back against pressure from a Western European government to censor political...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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