After the arrest of Durov, the founder of the YouTube competition, Rumble, left Europe in fear.
The founder and CEO of Rumble — a YouTube alternative billing itself as “immune to cancel culture” — said he has “departed” from Europe after Pavel Durov, the CEO of encrypted messaging app Telegram, was arrested.
“I’ve just safely departed from Europe,” Chris Pavlovski, a Canadian national, posted on X on Sunday, Aug. 25.
He claimed France had “threatened Rumble” and had “crossed a red line” by arresting Telegram’s Durov. In November 2022, Rumble blocked access to French users, claiming the country’s government asked it to remove “certain Russian news sources,” which it said it would legally challenge.
In May, Pavlovski also claimed Russia blocked Rumble because it “refused to comply with their censorship demands.”
“We are currently fighting in the courts of France, and we hope for Pavel Durov’s immediate release,” Pavlovski wrote.
He did not share what country he had left and his current whereabouts. Rumble did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
I’m a little late to this, but for good reason — I’ve just safely departed from Europe.
France has threatened Rumble, and now they have crossed a red line by arresting Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, reportedly for not censoring speech.
Rumble will not stand for this behavior and…
— Chris Pavlovski (@chrispavlovski) August 25, 2024
Rumble is a video-sharing platform based in Florida and Ontario. It is known for its more lenient content moderation policies compared to larger social media companies like Meta and Google, and has attracted a significant following, particularly among conservative users.
Durov, a Russian-born French citizen, was arrested by French officers on Aug. 24 at Paris–Le Bourget Airport on a warrant issued by the country’s judicial police based on a preliminary investigation, according to multiple news reports.
The police investigation is reportedly focused on Telegram’s alleged failure to cooperate with law enforcement and lack of moderation for crimes on its platform, including child sexual abuse content, drug trafficking, fraud and terrorism.
In a statement, Telegram said it abides by European Union laws and its moderation “is within industry standards and constantly improving.” It added that Durov “has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.”
It added that almost a billion users use Telegram as a source of “vital information,” and it was “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
French authorities have not publicly released a statement on Durov’s arrest but are expected to on Monday, Aug. 26.
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Rumble isn’t as “free speech” as they would like you to believe. When I posted a comment about a likely deep state conspiracy involving the USSS, FBI & CIA when Trump was shot, my comment was deleted. My response to it being deleted was also deleted. And again they deleted my 3rd comment. I don’t know for sure if it was Rumble or the Bongino censors on his channel, but free speech on that channel, and maybe the entire platform, is a lie, and Bongino is a fraud, IMO. It might not be as bad as YouTube, but it is certainly full of censorship. Check out Bit Chute instead.