Hedgehog CEO Sounds Alarm: Telegram Co-Founder's Arrest Poses Existential Threat to Free Speech

John Matze, CEO of Hedgehog, a free speech social media platform, expresses outrage over the arrest of Telegram's co-founder and warns of the dire consequences it poses for the protection of privacy and the free exchange of ideas.

John Matze, the co-founder and CEO of Hedgehog, a social media platform designed to foster respectful and engaging discourse, has voiced his profound concern over the arrest of Pavel Durov, the co-founder of the popular messaging app Telegram. Matze characterized the arrest as "an existential threat to free speech" that could have far-reaching implications for the protection of privacy and the freedom of expression worldwide.

Hedgehog CEO Sounds Alarm: Telegram Co-Founder's Arrest Poses Existential Threat to Free Speech

Matze, who has been a staunch defender of free speech throughout his career in the tech industry, believes that the arrest of Durov is part of an ongoing assault on privacy and free speech. He emphasized that privacy is not only a constitutional right for Americans but also a fundamental human right, which should encompass encryption and the ability to communicate freely without fear of government surveillance.

"This is a very significant threat to both privacy and free speech," Matze asserted.

Hedgehog CEO Sounds Alarm: Telegram Co-Founder's Arrest Poses Existential Threat to Free Speech

Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday as part of an ongoing investigation. French prosecutors have accused Telegram of allowing criminal activity on its platform, particularly involving child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking. Telegram has faced criticism for its encryption practices, which make it difficult for law enforcement agencies to access user data.

Matze believes that Durov, who fled Russia in 2014 after refusing to bow to the Kremlin's censorship demands, is being targeted by the French government because he has consistently resisted cooperating with government requests for information.

Hedgehog CEO Sounds Alarm: Telegram Co-Founder's Arrest Poses Existential Threat to Free Speech

"In 2021, my company was deplatformed and taken offline as a result of accusations regarding content moderation, which were untrue. Here we're seeing a repeat of these circumstances with what's happening to Telegram, where a very reactionary group of people is putting pressure to both censor content and eradicate privacy from his platform," Matze said.

He expressed strong opposition to holding social media founders and owners legally liable for the actions of their users, arguing that it is a dangerous and unrealistic expectation. "Do these individuals have legal liability? And should they be responsible for what people are doing on their platform, to the extent that the accusations are saying that they should be?" Matze questioned.

Hedgehog CEO Sounds Alarm: Telegram Co-Founder's Arrest Poses Existential Threat to Free Speech

Telegram, which boasts over 700 million monthly users worldwide, employs both artificial intelligence and human moderators to oversee its public channels and groups. It is particularly popular in India, where it has over 100 million users, and is widely used in conflict zones for the dissemination of information and the coordination of aid.

According to Matze, Telegram's features, which include the ability to send unmoderated broadcast messages to large groups, are crucial for people living in oppressed regimes and war-torn regions who are fighting for their lives and freedom. "In conflict zones or places where free speech isn't respected, people are able to get information out really fast to a large group of people...without the risk of the local governments being told who these individuals are that are fighting for their freedom and lives," he explained.

Matze expressed outrage at the apparent hypocrisy in the treatment of Telegram compared to other messaging platforms. He noted that WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, has significantly more users and yet is not facing similar accusations or legal challenges. "There is a movement in the West where countries are getting more and more aggressive with their hate speech laws and other laws which require more censorship," Matze observed.

He also criticized the accusations of criminal activity on Telegram, particularly the claim that Durov should be held liable for the use of encryption without a license. "Saying that cryptography is now illegal is pretty scary because all of these platforms have some sort of cryptography, and in particular, WhatsApp and Facebook products do have end-to-end encryption. So that is pretty frightening," Matze said.

Matze concluded his remarks by emphasizing the importance of protecting free speech and privacy in the digital age. "This should be a huge story. It's part of the ongoing war on privacy and free speech, globally," he said. "We need to be vigilant in defending these fundamental rights, because once they are gone, it will be very difficult to get them back."