Social media giants can no longer expect to keep operating in a regulatory vacuum, says Parmy Olson for Bloomberg Opinion.
Composite image of founder and CEO of Telegram , Pavel Durov, and the Telegram messaging app logo. Elon Musk called on France to “free Pavel” to avert a threat to democracy; Paul Graham, the co-founder of leading Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, suggested it would hurt the country’s chances of being"a major start-up hub". Yet while some are citing a French-led assault on free speech and innovation, the reality is more nuanced.
His platform has been linked to the spread of conspiracy theory groups, CSAM and terrorism, with Islamic State having reportedly used the app as a communication hub for nearly a decade. Such groups don’t just use the app for alleged secrecy, but for its “anything goes” approach to moderation. But it’s far from “absurd” for a company to be held accountable for criminal activity on its platform. Telegram is in this position because of its choice to avoid content moderation - and not because of an encroaching effort by a government to conduct surveillance on its supposedly secret chats.
France’s move against Durov marks a reckoning for that choice, and the involvement of specialised units such as the country’s Centre for the Fight against Cybercrime and the Anti-Fraud National Office highlight the gravity of his app’s alleged offences.
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