Escalation, Admission, Alliance

Information War update: France arrests Telegram CEO; Zuck admits U.S. government coerced Facebook; Brazil threatens Musk; RFK Jr. backs Trump.

On Saturday, French authorities arrested Pavel Durov as he exited his private plane in Paris. Durov is the founder and CEO of the social media and messaging company Telegram, which boasts 950 million users worldwide.

In detaining Durov, who is Russian-born but now a citizen of both France and the United Arab Emirates, France initially cited an ongoing investigation into international drug and human trafficking. On Wednesday, they released Durov on €5 million bail, ordered him to remain in France, and levied preliminary charges of “complicity in the distribution” of drugs and hacking software and failure to cooperate in the investigation.

American censorship enthusiasts cheered the arrest, while the UAE canceled a planned purchase of 80 French fighter jets.

Europe, Censorship Proxy

Europe is ramping up its own censorship efforts in part because the First Amendment is finally showing some teeth in the U.S. First, Elon Musk bought Twitter and rebranded it as the fiercely free-speech X. Then, the Missouri v. Biden social media censorship case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. And now, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is admitting Facebook was wrong to censor Covid and 2020 election stories at the behest of U.S. government officials.

Europe, however, doesn’t have a First Amendment. What it does have is a large market, to which every social media company wants access. Europe is thus increasingly cooperating with U.S. government censors, who are frustrated with America’s free speech constraints.

Earlier this month, Thierry Breton, the European Union’s commissioner for Internal Market, warned Elon Musk to be careful in his upcoming X interview with Donald Trump. In a long, formal letter, he reminded Musk of Europe’s new Digital Services Act, which prohibits the spread of “disinformation.” Free flowing political discussions on X might, if not properly monitored – wink, wink – lose Musk access to Europe’s 450 million consumers.

Musk told Breton to go fly a kite, and even EC President Ursula von der Leyen reprimanded Breton, preferring his threats had been more covert. Musk reminded us the EU had previously offered him a “secret deal” – agree to censor X, and we’ll leave you alone. Musk rejected the offer.

The United Kingdom, meanwhile, is throwing average Joes in prison, for up to 20 months, for expressing frustration online over growing street crime.

Now, France’s Durov arrest.

In an hour-long interview in April, Durov told Tucker Carlson that on trips to the U.S., the FBI often approached him and his staff. At the time, he surmised the U.S. wanted Durov to work with them.

“It was quite surprising. I thought, we’re getting too much attention here….They wanted details. My understanding is they wanted to establish a relationship to, in a way, control Telegram better. I understand they were just doing their job. But for us, running at privacy-focused social media platform, that probably wasn’t the best environment to be in. We wanted to be focused on what we do, not on government relations of that sort.”

Perhaps the Telegram CEO engaged in serious misconduct. Until we get more details, however, Durov’s real crime appears to be operating a social media platform while under the influence of free speech.

Silicon Valley investor Steve Jurvetson immediately warned Musk to avoid stepping foot in Europe.

Musk may also need to avoid Brazil, where Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has declared war on X. Just two weeks ago, X closed its Brazilian offices after Moraes threatened, in a secret order, to jail X employees if the platform did not remove “misinformation” and accounts critical of the Lula government.

Now, Moraes has frozen the bank accounts of Starlink, an unrelated Musk-led company, in order to seize fines levied on X, a distinct corporate entity. Musk said he would keep Starlink lit up for Brazilian subscribers even though they are now blocked from paying their bills. And on Thursday night, X Government Affairs said they now expect Moraes to shut down Brazilian access entirely in coming days.

Zuckerberg’s Admission

Mark Zuckerberg senses U.S. political winds may be shifting. In a remarkable letter to House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, the Meta CEO admitted with more formality and detail what we’ve known for years:

1. “…senior officials in the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content…”

2. In the fall of 2020, the FBI pre-censored the Biden family corruption story by warning Facebook fake information was forthcoming. “It's since been made clear,” Zuckerberg admitted, “that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn't have demoted the story.”

“I believe the government pressure was wrong,” Zuckerberg concluded, “and regret that we were not more outspoken about it.” Facebook will “push back if something like this happens again.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan the FBI and other U.S. agencies coerced Facebook to censor Covid and 2020 election stories.

Some legal scholars noted Zuckerberg subtly avoided specifically linking government coercion, in an iron-clad cause-effect relationship, to Facebook’s censorship. His blunt admissions, which raise public consciousness, are nonetheless probably more important than Meta’s technical legal stance.

RFK Jr.’s Speech for the Ages

Last Friday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., endorsed Donald Trump. Not necessarily out of love for Trump, he said, but to stop the existential threat posed by the current authoritarian Regimes in D.C., London, Paris, and Brasilia.

Free speech is not an issue but the issue. Without free flowing information, none of the other crucial topics can be discussed or debated. Without free speech, we can’t weigh in on war and peace, taxes, health, immigration, or even cast informed votes for – or against – our leaders.

Without free speech, accountability disintegrates. Error correction erodes. Arbitrary power accumulates.

Coincidentally, federal judge Terry Doughty just reinstated the injunction against government censorship of social media, this time based on RFK Jr.’s particular standing as a target of the Biden White House. In the last two weeks, RFK Jr. therefore not only likely delivered several crucial percentage points to Trump and lifted free speech to the top of the political agenda, he is also now the chief plaintiff in Missouri v. Biden, history’s most important First Amendment case.