Pavel Durov had flown to Le BourgetA town in the Paris region. dozens of times. But as the tech billionaire left his private jet last Saturday, he could sense that something was different. Moments later, he found himself under arrest.

As the news spread around the world, Durov's tech baron peers started quaking in their bespoke sneakers. For years they had acted with impunitySafety from punishment. It derives from a Latin word for penalty.. Authorities seemed unable to work out how to bring them to heel. But now the French criminal service has made a statement. Anything now seems possible.

Durov, the founder of TelegramToday: an encrypted instant messaging app. In the past: a message sent via electric wires and delivered as a printed piece of paper. As every word was expensive, making the message as short as possible became an art. A famous joke telegram sent from Venice read, "STREETS FULL OF WATER PLEASE ADVISE"., has been placed under formal investigation.¹ If the process leads to a trial and he is found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison. 

He has been described as "Russia's Mark Zuckerberg", although he lives in Dubai and claims French and UAEThe United Arab Emirates is a country in the Middle East, and the location of Dubai. citizenship. He cuts an eccentric figure: in 2019 he gave up food to increase his focus. He reportedly has over 100 children through sperm donationWhen a man donates sperm to a couple or woman in order to help them have a child. Although they are biologically the father, they do not claim to be a parent of the child. and plans to "open sourceWhen information is free for everyone to use. " his DNADeoxyribonucleic acid is the material in an organism that carries genetic information..

Telegram is the world's fourth biggest messaging platform. Durov says it has 950 million monthly active users.²

Like WhatsApp, it offers end to end encryptionA way of scrambling data so that only certain people can understand it. so that third parties cannot read its messages.³

Unlike the Meta-owned app, which caps groups at 1,000 members, Telegram allows for groups of up to 200,000. This has helped make it popular with activists and pressure groupsOrganisations that put pressure on governments to change policy on specific issues - e.g. LGBT rights or climate change. , from pro-democracy movements in IranA country in Western Asia, officially called the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has a population of 84 million. and Hong KongAn estimated two million people took part in pro-democracy, anti-government protests in 2019. to the Islamic StateA terrorist organisation that captured whole swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014, and launched a series of attacks in Europe and North America. It is also known as ISIS or ISIL. . British security services believe it played a role in last month's far-right riots.

Experts claim that these huge groups are fertile ground for disinformationFalse information intended to mislead, including propaganda, which all too often encourages the spread of misinformation, fake news spread by mistake. It is contrasted with misinformation, which may be spread accidentally. . And Telegram has been accused of not doing enough to moderate false claims, hate and even criminal activity.

Durov refuses to police his app because he is anti-censorshipPreventing or stopping speech, writing or communication that is considered harmful or "inconvenient". . He has spent years ignoring government requests to remove criminal content. The FT's John Thornhill writes: "Telegram does not appear to distinguish between the threatening demands of autocraticRelating to a ruler with total power. regimes and legitimate requests of law-enforcement authorities in democratic countries."

The Times calls the arrest "an extraordinary escalation". It is the first time the owner of a platform has been found personally responsible for the way their software is used.⁴ Telegram have fumed against the arrest. The platform posted: "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform."

Some think the arrest attacks freedom of expression. Elon Musk claims that "moderation is a propaganda word for censorship". The American whistleblowerSomeone who exposes secretive behaviour by a group or organisation; once used to describe police who blew whistles to signal the scene of a crime. Edward Snowden, who lives in exile in Russia, has called it "an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association". 

Politicians and the general public seem to disagree. A YouGovA British public opinion and polling company. It was co-founded by Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative Party politician. poll last month found that 66% of Britons think social media managers should be held responsible for inciting riots. In recent years both the US and the EU have hit tech firms with a series of lawsuits. As Politico says: "The world's largest tech platforms are now under active legal attack by governments."

The assault on Durov himself might be an outlier. It is harder in Europe to prosecute individuals than companies. It is difficult to acquire proof that an executive had knowledge of illegal activity and did nothing to stop them.⁵ And tech giants can easily absorb fines.

Yet even if Durov escapes the worst, the arrest itself makes a bold statement. As social media expert Chris Stokel-Walker writes: "If making an example of Durov is what it takes to get tech executives to think twice before acting, that must surely be welcomed."

Is this the downfall of the tech barons?

Yes: Durov's arrest is the first blow in a war that looks to rage in the years ahead. The tech barons have money on their side. But governments have popular support, moral superiority and the law. And the law always wins in the end. 

No: Telegram is a special case. Durov's anti-censorship stance allowed crimes to happen on his watch. With the possible exception of Elon Musk, other tech leaders are too cannyBeing shrewd, astute, or having good judgment, especially in financial or business matters. and profit-motivated to let themselves fall into the same trap.

Or... It looks like the tech barons are at risk. But they are slippery creatures. If you behead a tech giant, a new head might grow back. And even if it does not, the company will remain to operate, only without a public-facing leader.

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