DISINFO: The real reason for Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s arrest is to cover up events in Palestine
SUMMARY
Turkish media revealed the real reason for Pavel Durov's arrest. Turkish daily Sabah reported that the goal of the detention of Telegram's co-founder is to cover up what is really happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Western countries don’t want the world to know the real situation there, nor the number of dead and injured, provided by several Palestinian channels in Telegram after Israel’s attacks.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory not backed by any evidence. French authorities have charged Pavel Durov with 12 different crimes, including complicity in the distribution of child pornography and selling of drugs, money laundering, and a refusal to cooperate with law enforcement.
One of the main charges is Telegram’s inability to prevent sex crimes against minors on the platform. According to The Washington Post, Jean-Michel Bernigaud, secretary general of Ofmin (a French police agency focused on preventing violence against minors), stated that “at the heart of the case is the absence of moderation and cooperation on the part of the platform, especially in the fight against child sex crimes.”
There is nothing indicating that Durov’s arrest has anything to do with preventing the spread of information in Telegram, which at the time of the publication of this disinformation story continued operating normally. French President Emmanuel Macron has denied that this arrest had any political motivation and said that it is “part of an ongoing judicial investigation”.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that RT and Sputnik were shut down because they told the Western audiences the truth, that press freedom means nothing to the European Union, that as in Operation Mockingbird, the CIA keeps its Russophobic influence over media, or that the Signal messaging app was developed and kept afloat with US intelligence funding.