The assault on Free Speech or attack on Paedophilia and Terrorism? > Telegram's Pavel Durov arrested in France

 

Telegram messaging app CEO Pavel Durov arrested at French airport

Pavel Durov, Franco-Russian billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris, French media reported, citing unidentified sources, and is set to appear in court Sunday. Russian-born Durov, 39, founded Telegram with his brother in 2013, and the encrypted messaging app is influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union.

Issued on: 25/08/2024 - 04:17

3 min

By:FRANCE 24

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FRANCE 24

Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov is expected to appear in court Sunday after being arrested by French police at an airport near Paris for alleged offences related to his popular messaging app, sources told AFP.

The Franco-Russian billionaire, 39, was detained at Le Bourget airport north of the French capital on Saturday evening, one of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Durov had arrived from Baku, in Azerbaijan, another source close to the case said.

France's OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov in a preliminary investigation into alleged offences including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism, one of the sources said.

Durov is accused of failing to take action to curb the criminal use of his platform.

"Enough of Telegram's impunity," said one of the investigators, adding they were surprised Durov came to Paris knowing he was a wanted man.

France ‘refusing to cooperate’, says Russia

The Russian embassy in Paris on Sunday accused French authorities of "refusing to cooperate" after Durov’s arrest.

"We immediately asked French authorities to explain the reasons for this detention and demanded that his rights be protected and that consular access be granted. Up to now, the French side is refusing to cooperate on this question," the embassy said in a statement reported by Ria Novosti news agency.

Responding to the news of Durov’s arrest, Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president on Sunday said Telegram’s founder had “miscalculated” by fleeing Russia and thinking that he would never have to cooperate with the security services abroad.

Medvedev related a conversation he had with Durov several years ago in which Medvedev told him that if he did not want to cooperate with law enforcement agencies,  he would have problems in any country.

Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's Security Council, said Durov wanted to be a 'brilliant "man of the world who lives wonderfully without a Motherland".

"He miscalculated," Medvedev said. "For all our common enemies now, he is Russian – and therefore unpredictable and dangerous."

Platform of 'privacy'

The encrypted messaging app, based in Dubai, has positioned itself as an alternative to US-owned platforms, which have been criticised for their commercial exploitation of users' personal data.

Telegram has committed to never disclosing any information about its users.

In a rare interview given to right-wing talk show host Tucker Carlson in April, Durov said he got the idea to launch an encrypted messaging app after coming under pressure from the Russian government when working at VK, a social network he created before selling it and leaving Russia in 2014.

He said he then tried to settle in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco before choosing Dubai, which he praised for its business environment and "neutrality".

People "love the independence. They also love the privacy, the freedom, (there are) a lot of reasons why somebody would switch to Telegram", Durov told Carlson.

He said at the time that the platform had more than 900 million active users.

By basing itself in the United Arab Emirates, Telegram has been able to shield itself from moderation laws at a time when Western countries are pressuring large platforms to remove illegal content.

Telegram allows groups of up to 200,000 members, which has led to accusations that it makes it easier for false information to spread virally, as well as for users to disseminate neo-Nazi, paedophilic, conspiratorial and terrorist content.

Competitor messaging service WhatsApp introduced worldwide limits on message forwarding in 2019 after it was accused of enabling the spread of false information in India that led to lynchings.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

Edward Snowden  @Snowden

·Aug 25

The arrest of @Durov

 is an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association. I am surprised and deeply saddened that Macron has descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications. It lowers not only France, but the world.

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The End Times > John MacArthur on the morality in Washington and on the End Times

Written before the assassination attempt on Trump 

‘Divine judgment’: Pastor John MacArthur on Biden,

Trump, immorality, and the Church

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Sunday, July 07, 2024

Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church articulated a stern view of President Joe Biden’s leadership during a recent interview, framing it as a divine judgment and a reflection of societal moral decline. America is a nation reaping the consequences of its moral choices, he declared.

During his interview with Breitbart News Daily, MacArthur spoke about the Biden administration’s vocal support for trans ideology as emblematic of a society straying from biblical teachings.

When a society “turns to sexual immorality, homosexual immorality, and a reprobate mind, God gives them up,” MacArthur said, suggesting that the current leadership exemplifies the punishment described in Romans 1.

“When He gives them up, it means he gives them up to the consequences of their choices, the pastor said. “If you follow that pattern, what you get is Joe Biden, who is the epitome of all those things that I just talked about.”

The pastor did not mince words when discussing the personal and familial aspects of Biden’s life, claiming immorality ran “rampant” at an “epic level.”

MacArthur said societal redemption is possible, but only by returning to scriptural principles and genuine Christian conversion. He criticized the contemporary Church for its perceived failure to challenge societal norms and confront sins that lead to divine judgment.

“The church has miserably failed,” he lamented, pointing to its inclination to conform to external expectations rather than uphold biblical truths.

He dismissed the notion that political figures like former President Donald Trump could be the solution to the nation’s moral and spiritual decline, although he considered a second Trump presidency a “huge move in the right direction.”

MacArthur stressed that change must come internally from individuals through the Gospel of Christ, which he said can transform hearts and, by extension, cultures and nations.“The transformation that He brings can change a family and change a community and change a nation,” MacArthur concluded.

During a Q&A at his church in March, MacArthur addressed the topic of Christian nationalism.

He clarified his stance against the conflation of Christian doctrine with political power, asserting, “The Kingdom of God is not of this world.” He also views the spiritual advancement of God’s Kingdom as separate from earthly political processes.

Despite the separation of church and state, MacArthur stressed the importance of Christians engaging in the political process to uphold righteousness, especially as voting becomes increasingly challenging in a landscape where options often do not align perfectly with biblical values.

Warning for the days ahead

Addressing misconceptions about Christian dominance in worldly affairs, MacArthur pointed to the scriptural predictions of worsening conditions for believers before Christ's return.

MacArthur, a premillennialist, suggested that Christians who believe they can assist God in establishing His Kingdom by seizing the reins of political power are misguided and often driven by a mistaken postmillennial eschatology that believes Jesus will return following an extended period of Christian political and cultural dominance.

“What Scripture teaches is what we're learning from the book of Revelation: Things are going to get worse and worse and worse, and the end of human history is not the Church triumphant, reigning in the world and taking over the structures of human kingdoms. That’s not what happens. At the end of human history, the believers are persecuted and murdered. And that’s the very opposite of what Christian nationalism would anticipate.”

I don't always agree with John MacArthur, but in this end-times prediction, he is right-on. The End Times may have already begun on Oct 7th, 2023. So, be prepared!

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Elon Musk fighting for Free Speech in at least three countries

 

We wrote last week about Elon Musk keeping Free Speech alive in Australia, here he is fighting for Free Speech in The USA and Canada.

Elon Musk Treads Deeper Into Canada Free Speech Debate

By Adam Brown

5/15/2024

Updated:

5/15/2024

Elon Musk’s pledge to pay the legal costs of people who suffer repercussions for speaking their minds on his X social media platform is drawing him deeper into Canada’s battle over free speech.

His platform is providing financial support for a legal appeal by a Brampton, Ont., pediatrician who was professionally rebuked for criticizing Canada’s COVID-era lockdowns. Mr. Musk is also funding a free-speech lawsuit filed by another Ontario-based doctor who had spoken out against COVID-19 health policies.

Canada now accounts for an outsized portion of Mr. Musk’s legal fight, with half of the four free-speech cases that X is currently funding globally in a push to help “people exercise their right to free speech on X -- and to also work in environments that are free from bullying, harassment, or discrimination.”

Dr. Kaur Kulvinder Gill, the pediatrician who already faced a $300,000 costs order in her battle to clear her reputation, is now also appealing a court decision that upheld three public “cautions” against her issued by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

“X has already confirmed funding for an appeal,” Lisa Bildy, Ms. Gill’s lawyer, told The Epoch Times in an email on May 13.

The cautions relate to posts Ms. Gill published on Twitter, now X, during the lockdowns of August 2020. The first read, “There is absolutely no medical or scientific reason for this prolonged, harmful and illogical lockdown.” The second said, “If you have not yet figured out that we don’t need a vaccine, you are not paying attention.”

X is also paying the legal costs of Dr. Matt Strauss, an Ontario critical care physician and former Queen’s University employee who spoke out on Twitter, before the platform was bought by Musk, against Canada’s COVID health policies.

“X is proud” to fund Dr. Strauss’s lawsuit against Queen’s University, the company said in a post on May 3.

The company added that after Dr. Strauss argued against widespread pandemic lockdowns and mandates on his X account, Queen’s University “publicly ostracized him, retaliated against him, and ultimately forced him to resign because his opinions did not conform to the university’s political orthodoxy.”

“X supports Dr. Strauss’s efforts to vindicate his free speech rights without fear of unfair retaliation!” the company said.

Mr. Musk, who has classified his takeover of Twitter as a US$44 billion investment in free speech, has repeatedly tangled with the Canadian government over free-speech issues. Most recently, in a May 8 post, he criticized the proposed Online Harms Act as “a terrible attack on the rights of Canadians to speak freely.”

The Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63, includes provisions that could let a judge place certain restrictions on a defendant, including curfews and an electronic bracelet, for up to a year if the court believes the person may commit a future hate crime.

Besides the two cases in Canada, X is currently funding the legal battles of two Americans. One is Chloe Happe, a Missouri woman who was fired by payments processing company Block for posts on X that she said were in the form of satire. The other is actress Gina Carano, who says she was fired from the Disney television show “The Mandalorian” for a series of posts.

X had also earlier hired a lawyer for Juan David Campolargo, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who was disciplined and threatened with dismissal from his on-campus job for posting about free food on X. The disciplinary action was rescinded in January.

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Musk keeps free speech alive in Australia - Video of Muslim stabbing Bishop can be shown

 

Australian court lifts ruling forcing X to

remove video of Sydney church stabbing

By Darryl Coote

A federal court in Australia on Monday removed an injunction placed on X forcing to remove video of a stabbing that happened last month at the Good Shepherd Church in the Sydney suburb of Wakeley. 

Photo by Bianca de Marchi/EPA-EFE

May 13 (UPI) -- A federal court in Australia on Monday lifted a temporary injunction placed on U.S. social media giant X to force it to remove videos of last month's violent stabbing of a bishop in a terrorist attack in Sydney.

The country's eSafety commissioner, Inman Grant, was awarded the injunction on April 22, requiring X to ensure the removal of the video of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel being stabbed during service at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the Sydney suburb of Wakeley on April 15.

However, a federal court or(sic) Monday rejected the government's application to extend the injunction, the commissioner said in a statement.

"Not trying to win anything. I just don't think we should be suppressing Australians' rights to free speech," X owner Elon Musk said in response to the ruling on his social media platform.

Police have declared the stabbing in which Emmanuel and three others, including the accused 16-year-old suspect, were injured a terrorist attack.

The service was live-streamed, and footage of the stabbing quickly spread online.

The eSafety commissioner said it worked with Google, Microsoft, Snap and TikTok to remove the video, but on April 16 issued what it called Class 1 removal notices to Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and X seeking removal of the material from their platforms.

How is hiding the extreme violence committed by Muslims considered an act of safety?

While Meta complied, X did not -- at least not to Grant's satisfaction. X has geo-blocked the video in Australia, meaning that residents of other countries can still access it through its platform and those in the Oceanic nation with the use of a VPN, meaning a virtual private network.

Musk last month had said X's concern with the Australia's request is that "if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries ... then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire Internet?"

Following the attack, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters during a press conference that social media companies have a responsibility to take action when such videos are published on their platforms and that they shouldn't need the eSafety commissioner to seek legal intervention.

"The social media companies that make a lot of money out of their business have a social responsibility. And I want to see social media companies start to understand their social responsibility that they have to others as well, because that's where they get their social license," he said April 19.

"We are prepared to take whatever action is necessary to haul these companies into line. We've made that very clear because of the damage that a failure to act can have."

The astonishing stupidity of not just Albanese, but all left-leaning world leaders to protect violent Islamists from being outed, places the entire non-Muslim citizenship of their contries in elevated danger from stabbings, rapes, beatings, and all sorts of violence. It's morally obtuse and completely unjustified.

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Canadian Convolutions > Elon Musk, Jordan Peterson alarmed at Trudeau's anti-free speech act

 

Two of the most intelligent men in the world are very concerned about the direction Trudeau's Online Harms Act will take Canada.

The act is designed to address issues that were never issues before the 21st century. Islamism, Drag Queens,  and transgenderism. It seems to be in defence of the godless, and there appears to be no place for the truth as a defence for the accused. 

Elon Musk Calls Online Harms Act an

‘Attack on the Rights of Canadians’

By Jennifer Cowan

5/8/2024

Updated:

5/8/2024

Elon Musk is once again speaking out against the proposed Online Harms Act, calling it an “attack” on free speech rights in Canada.

The billionaire owner of social media platform X called the proposed legislation “a terrible attack on the rights of Canadians to speak freely” in a May 7 post on X.

Mr. Musk waded into the issue in response to an article about the new changes being brought in with the proposed legislation, and in response to psychologist and author Jordan Peterson who also commented on the new bill.

Mr. Peterson, an outspoken free speech advocate, called the legislation “the most Orwellian piece of legislation ever promoted in the West.”

“Mr. Musk, it’s much much worse than you have been informed: plans to shackle Canadians electronically if accusers fear a ‘hate crime’ might (might) be committed,” Dr. Peterson said in a May 7 post.

Mr. Peterson has been outspoken on issues of free speech, including his opposition to the Liberal government’s Bill C-16, which added the protection of gender identity and expression to the Human Rights Code and Criminal Code.

Dr. Peterson’s Twitter account was temporarily suspended for his comments about transgender actor Elliot Page, but it was reinstated by Elon Musk after he purchased the social media platform in 2022.

Mr. Musk, who has said his purchase of Twitter was a $44 billion investment in free speech, has criticized the Online Harms Act on the platform in the past. He called certain measures of the legislation “insane” in a March 12 post in response to an article posted on X.

Entitled “Canadian law would allow judges to hand down life sentences for ’speech crimes’ (no, this isn’t a joke),” the article was posted by Not The Bee, a self-described news and entertainment website with actual news “that seems like it should definitely be satire.”

Justice Minister Arif Virani responded to Mr. Musks comment about the bill’s proposed  life imprisonment sentence for hate propaganda posts.

“The article you shared is misleading. I’d be happy to discuss our legislation and how X can work with us to help keep kids safe and stop hatred,” Mr. Virani said in a March 12 post.

In what way is it misleading, Minister? Share it with all of us.

“It looks like you agree that we all have a responsibility to protect free expression by stopping the worst kinds of hate speech,” he added.

The post included text from the platform’s Help Center, with a section highlighted that said, “We recognize that if people experience abuse on X, it can jeopardize their ability to express themselves.”

Online Harms Act

Bill C-63, known as the Online Harms Act, was introduced by the Liberal government in February in a bid to reduce Canadians’ exposure to “harmful content” on the internet. The legislation is currently at second reading in the House of Commons.

Attorney General Arif Virani has said the Online Harms Act would bring a new level of security to online communities and increase protection against the often inappropriate content appearing on children’s screens.

Does that mean protection against Drag Queens, transgender enthusiasts, etc.?

Bill C-63 seeks to establish special protections for children and make online services like Facebook and YouTube “accountable for and transparent about how they are reducing exposure to harmful content.” Compliance is to be monitored by a five-member Digital Safety Commission.

All of whom will be members of the LGBTQ lobby, I am sure.

But besides protection for children, the bill also proposes a number of other changes on online regulation and criminal prosecution.

The bill paves the way for what some critics have called “future crime” provisions, where a judge could place certain restrictions on a defendant for up to a year if the court is satisfied that the individual may commit a future hate crime. Some of the restrictions include wearing an electronic bracelet and curfews. Defendants who refuse could be sentenced for up to one year in jail.

If the bill is passed, a new definition of “hatred” would be added to section 319 of the Criminal Code, which refers to the public incitement of hatred and the wilful promotion of hatred and anti-Semitism. Bill C-63 would also add a new standalone hate crime offence to the Criminal Code that would apply to existing offences.

The new bill would also amend the Canadian Human Rights Act, specifying that posting “hate speech” online counts as discrimination. The government has said this would apply to speech based on detestation or vilification centred on race, religion, sexual orientation, and other grounds.

Maximum punishments for hate propaganda offences in Sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code would also be raised to life imprisonment from the current five years. The government has said the maximum penalty would reflect the seriousness of the offence, and emphasized that in all cases courts would have the flexibility to give proportional sentences.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has been critical of the proposed legislation and has urged the government to make several “substantial” amendments. The agency said it has concerns about loss of free speech as well as the vague wording the bill uses to define offences, such as “incitement to genocide” and “offence motivated by hatred.”

Chandra Philip contributed to this report.

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