Pavel Durov, Labeled Russian Mark Zuckerberg, Knew ISIS Was on Telegram
Pavel Durov, 31-year old Russian entrepreneur nicknamed Russian Mark Zuckerberg, has revealed that he was aware of ISIS members being active on his encrypted messaging app Telegram, and he was okay with that. This Wednesday, Durov released a statement saying that after the Paris attacks, he’s decided he’s no longer okay with it.
Russian Mark Zuckerberg: An Anarchist at Heart
Ever since his youth, Pavel Durov has been a big fan of contradiction. In regards to Telegram, he always believed that privacy should be put above all, regardless of who is using it. Reportedly, ISIS had been using Telegram to communicate before the attacks on Paris, and Durov’s response to these claims was simply something along the lines of: ‘if we should ban Telegram, then we may as well ban words, as there’s also evidence to suggest that they are using them communicate.’ He said he didn’t feel guilty at all about hearing these claims.
Russian Mark Zuckerberg Changed His Mind in The End
This Wednesday, Telegram released a statement saying that they were ‘disturbed to learn that Telegram’s public channels were being used by ISIS to promote jihad’, so the application has blocked 78 ISIS related accounts across several different languages.
This goes against all of his intentions since Durov started VKontacte, a Russian Facebook counterpart that initially earned him the title of Russian Mark Zuckerberg. Telegram, which went live officially in the fall of 2015, came from his desire to have absolute privacy to communicate, which the Russian government has always been adamant about taking away from him.
Still, Telegram Will Stay True to its Mission
Despite this confusing series of events, Telegram promises to remain true to its original intention. They said in their statement regarding ISIS that while they do block terrorist related accounts, they will not block anyone who peacefully expresses their opinions on the Telegram platform.
This proves Russian Mark Zuckerberg may just be taking a few steps back.
