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.
