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Arrest of Telegram founder sparks debate over whether X owner Elon Musk could be next

X-owner Elon Musk has rushed to the aid of the founder of the controversial messaging app Telegram and is demanding the release of the 39-year-old from French custody.

The spectacular arrest of Pavel Durov on the tarmac of Paris' Le Bourget airport, shortly after his private jet landed on Saturday, sparked a heated debate about where exactly the boundaries of protected freedom of expression end and the rule of law begins.

Durov is initially being held in France without formal charges, but the authorities could accuse the Telegram founder of not adequately controlling illegal content and the trading carried out via Telegram.

Musk's X is also in the crosshairs of the European The EU Commission recently reminded him of its failure to comply with the Digital Services Act, which requires large platform owners to systematically take action against false and misleading content.

The entrepreneur, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, called on France to “release” Pavel, warning that his arrest was a sign that dangerous times were ahead for democracy.

“The Second Amendment is the only reason the First Amendment will endure in the long term,” he added, referring to the constitutionally protected rights to bear arms and exercise free speech in the United States.

Musk is increasingly portraying himself as someone trying to stem a growing tide of censorship and government overreach. The X owner earlier this month lashed out at Brussels over what he perceived as its heavy-handed approach to regulation. (Musk has not yet criticized China, where half of Tesla's cars are made.)

Chris Pavlovski, CEO of YouTube competitor Rumble, used similarly blunt words after claiming to have left European soil “safely.”

“France threatened Rumble and now they have crossed a red line by arresting Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, allegedly for not censoring speech,” he posted on Sunday.

It is unclear what Pavlovski was doing in Europe, and he did not respond to a request for comment from Assets for a comment.

“What’s next… the arrest of Elon Musk?”

This year was one of the greatest tests for democracy in recent times: elections were held in countries where more than half the world's population lives.

Election integrity is therefore a major concern across the political spectrum, with regulators such as the EU Commission particularly aware of the risk that false news can spread instantly via social media platforms such as Telegram or X, where there is little or no oversight or accountability.

In a statement, Telegram responded to the allegations of alleged wrongdoing by saying that Durov had “nothing to hide” and claimed that the French national, who lives in Dubai, regularly travels to Europe, dismissing the notion that he was only arrested now that he had finally set foot on EU soil.

Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform Party in Britain and a close confidant of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, acknowledged that there are often black sheep on social media platforms such as Telegram.

“The arrest of Pavel Durov is worrying,” he posted. “What's next… the arrest of Elon Musk?”

Alexander Vindman, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who testified as a key witness in Trump's first impeachment trial, wrote that Durov's case has broader implications for social media sites like X.

“There is a growing intolerance of disinformation platforms and malicious influence operations and a growing desire for accountability,” he wrote. “Musk should be nervous.”

Last month, Musk posted a deepfake video with an AI-generated voiceover of Kamala Harris describing herself as a diversity worker and Biden as senile. The post did not explicitly mention the use of AI, which some saw as a violation of X's terms of service against manipulating content to deceptively.

Musk later shared a fabricated story allegedly published by the British daily telegraph reported that British rioters would be deported to the Falkland Islands near Argentina. The Tesla CEO quietly deleted the post, which received millions of views, after he was reprimanded for spreading false information.

“Propaganda is not just about creating fake news,” Musk said last week, without citing a specific incident. “It's also about hiding real news.”

X is in financial difficulties and leaves its banks in a tight spot

Musk's leadership of X is turning into a financial disaster for the entrepreneur. According to internal company figures released by the New York TimesU.S. revenue fell to $114 million in the second quarter, a sharp 84% decline from pre-Musk Twitter just two years earlier.

Fidelity has massively inflated the value of its private investment in X, while asset managers treat the company's debt as if it were radioactive. A consortium of banks that underwrote Musk's October 2022 takeover has failed to offload nearly $13 billion in leveraged loans still on their books.

Tesla investors now fear that Musk will liquidate even more shares just to keep X afloat.

When reached by Assets Reached for comment, X replied that he was busy. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

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