The founder and CEO of Rumble — a YouTube alternative billing itself as “immune to cancel culture” — said he has “departed” from Europe after Pavel Durov, the CEO of encrypted messaging app Telegram, was arrested.
“I’ve just safely departed from Europe,” Chris Pavlovski, a Canadian national, posted on X on Sunday, Aug. 25.
He claimed France had “threatened Rumble” and had “crossed a red line” by arresting Telegram’s Durov. In November 2022, Rumble blocked access to French users, claiming the country’s government asked it to remove “certain Russian news sources,” which it said it would legally challenge.
In May, Pavlovski also claimed Russia blocked Rumble because it “refused to comply with their censorship demands.”
“We are currently fighting in the courts of France, and we hope for Pavel Durov’s immediate release,” Pavlovski wrote.
He did not share what country he had left and his current whereabouts. Rumble did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rumble is a video-sharing platform based in Florida and Ontario. It is known for its more lenient content moderation policies compared to larger social media companies like Meta and Google, and has attracted a significant following, particularly among conservative users.
Durov, a Russian-born French citizen, was arrested by French officers on Aug. 24 at Paris–Le Bourget Airport on a warrant issued by the country’s judicial police based on a preliminary investigation, according to multiple news reports.
The police investigation is reportedly focused on Telegram’s alleged failure to cooperate with law enforcement and lack of moderation for crimes on its platform, including child sexual abuse content, drug trafficking, fraud and terrorism.
In a statement, Telegram said it abides by European Union laws and its moderation “is within industry standards and constantly improving.” It added that Durov “has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.”
It added that almost a billion users use Telegram as a source of “vital information,” and it was “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
French authorities have not publicly released a statement on Durov’s arrest but are expected to on Monday, Aug. 26.
