Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested and charged for how he ran his platform, and in the same week, Elon Musk’s X platform was banned in Brazil.
The detention and indictment of CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durovafter getting off his private plane in France last week, followed days later by the blockage in Brazil of Elon Musk’s X platformrepresents an unprecedented turn in international geopolitics, while regulators toughen their actions against the social networks y blame those responsible.
Both incidents could mark a new chapter for social networks and its technological titans, especially in Europe.
Los charges against Durov in France include 12 crimesamong them “complicity in the distribution by an organized gang of child pornographic images of minors, drug trafficking, fraud in an organized gang” and refusal to cooperate with authorities in relation to information or documents necessary to carry out interceptions authorized by law.
Durov’s arrest, “an important moment for the regulation of social networks in Europe”
His arrest “is not a decisive moment for social networks in themselves, but it is a important moment for the regulation of social networks in Europe“Yevgeniy Golovchenko, associate professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen, told Euronews Next.
“It’s not the first time What Telegram has friction with the authorities“he added, referring to a fine imposed by Germany after the country accused the platform of breaking its laws and facilitating hate speech.
Golovchenko said the question raised by Durov’s case is the extent to which European countries can enforce their existing laws or not. “We can imagine a scenario in which Telegram complies, but we can also imagine that Durov does not comply. So that’s why this goes beyond Telegram or French legislationbecause policymakers across Europe and around the world are probably watching this case very closely,” he said.
In Europe, the recent Digital Services Law (DSA) has some provisions what can they do put the responsibility on the owners of the platforms. But Telegram does not meet the DSA threshold for very large platforms because it has fewer than 45 million monthly users. Telegram currently has 41 million users in Europe.
According to Catalina Goanta, associate professor of private law and technology at Utrecht University, the Telegram case could give more importance to the EU delegated actswhich can modify non-essential parts of the legislation. This would “guarantee the transparency and the clarity as to which platforms fall within the scope of application of which provisions,” he told ‘Euronews Next’.
Should we expect more aggressive approaches?
In addition to its prohibition in BrazilMusk’s X platform faces a increased scrutiny in the EU. The European Commission said in July that the platform breached DSA rules on its blue tick, claiming that it misleads users. Musk rejected the conclusions.
“I think that the European Commission is going to have to make a strategic decision: Are we going to war against Twitter? Or do we simply want to find a agreement that will be useful?“Goanta said.
Both X and Telegram have been criticized by the British Government for feeding the far-right riots August, which incited hatred against Muslims. “I think if we’re going to assume that more aggressive approaches are going to be taken, then perhaps we could see a future where Elon Musk can’t travel to the UK and Twitter is blocked in Europe. And I think that would be undesirable on many levels.” said Goanta.
Besides, Musk has also been accused repeatedly defamatory comments against individuals. This raises the question of whether a CEO should be held liable for defamation, “or are we really talking about someone who is inciting hatred or inciting violence?” Goanta said.
But he pointed out that the cases of Musk and Durov in the EU and France are not the same because there are different categories of criminal laws that deal with, for example, the hosting of child sexual abuse material versus terrorist content. There are also very specific crypto laws that are unique to France.
Freedom of expression against illegal speech
The argument that regulators are pursuing free speech in both Musk’s and Durov’s cases has been preached by tech titans and their supporters. “X is the most used news source in Brazil. It’s what people want“Musk wrote in a post on his platform.
“Now, the tyrant Voldemort is crushing people’s right to freedom of expression“he said, referring to the Brazilian judge who issued the order to ban the platform after Musk refused to name a legal representative in Brazil in August.
ADVERTISINGThe cases of Durov and Musk show that regulation is coming, said William Echikson, editor of the digital technology policy magazine ‘Bandwidth’, of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
“These big technology companies are no longer little children. They are adults”he declared to ‘Euronews Next’. In his view, the difficult question of regulation is how to balance freedom of expression with illegality.
“We have different responses in the United States and in Europe. The difficult thing is knowing what is effective. It is very difficult to monitor this effectively“he said. In the United States, the First Amendment protects the right to freedom of expression, so it is much more difficult to regulate it than in Europe. However, Europa It is also divided, with different standards depending on the country.
“I think the line that separates what is acceptable from what is unacceptable in terms of expression is very diffuse“said Echikson. However, he said that in democracies you cannot hold platforms responsible for not preventing anything and hold them accountable for it, since “it could lead to internet censorship like in China or Russia. But I don’t think we in the West want that.”
ADVERTISINGWill anything change?
Although he called Telegram a “high-profile example of bad behavior,” he doesn’t think we’ll see Elon Musk or other social media bosses arrested anytime soon. In his opinion, what could change social networks is that these cases are bad for business and could deter advertisers of being “next to a toxic cesspool.
Reddit it’s a good example of this. The community site used to be full of racist and misogynistic groups, but the company began moderating and removing these groups. This year, the 19-year-old company went public and ended up gaining the trust of users.
“I think the ascending form of moderate and having volunteer editors like on Wikipedia is probably a most effective model have to try to get regulators in Brussels to determine what is acceptable speech and what is not,” Echikson said.
For Robin Mansell, professor of New Media and the Internet at the London School of Economics and Political Science, much of what tech moguls say about freedom of expression “is freedom of expression without responsibility“.
ADVERTISINGBut he does not believe that the cases will change things much for social networks or technology giants in the United States or Europe. “I’m not very convinced that it will have a great impact on social networks. “I think the only thing that will have a big impact on these companies will be the American regulators, if they decide they want to do something about it,” he told Euronews Next.
“And I think that it depends fully of the results of the next american elections. In the meantime, the European Union will continue to express its concerns,” he added.
