France Wages All-Out War On Free Speech

Criminal investigation against Elon Musk comes weeks after banning French opposition leader Marine Le Pen from running for president

Jul 18, 2025

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Pavel Durov (left), Emanuel Macron (center), and Elon Musk (right) (Getty Images)

Last year, French authorities arrested Pavel Durov, the CEO of a social media and messaging company, Telegram. Authorities claimed it was because he had refused to cooperate with law enforcement. Telegram, they said, had been used for money laundering, drug trafficking, and child pornography, and Durov had not allowed French law enforcement to intercept communications involved in these serious crimes. France’s President Emmanuel Macron insisted that Durov’s arrest was not political or aimed at freedom of expression.

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A guest post by

Stéphane Luçon

French journalist based in Romania. After Romania’s annulled elections, I began investigating the EU’s Digital Services Act — censorship, transparency failures — and its impact on the information flow.