Gab CEO Andrew Torba is suggesting that the Israeli government may be to blame for the arrest in France of Telegram founder Pavel Durov.
In a post to X on Monday, Torba, a self-described Christian nationalist known for espousing antisemitic views, insinuated the arrest could be linked to the recent removal of a Telegram channel that posted hacked documents from the Israeli government.
Torba followed up in an email to users of his alternative social media platform later that day, stating, “One has to wonder if these two events are connected.”
The Telegram channel in question, which belonged to the non-profit journalism collective DDoSecrets, was taken down on or around Aug. 3. DDoSecrets shared links just days before to more than 1 million files from the Israel Ministry of Justice, as well as nearly 200,000 files from Israel’s Ministry of Defense.
Often referred to as the successor to WikiLeaks, DDoSecrets archives and publishes hacked and leaked documents deemed to be in the public interest. DDoSecrets cited a hacking group known as “Anonymous for Justice” as the source of the two Israeli datasets.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last week that the Israeli government successfully petitioned Telegram to take down a channel run by a collective “who now operate a WikiLeaks-style website.”
While Israel’s Justice Ministry would not confirm that it had issued the takedown or that its target was DDoSecrets, a spokesperson told the newspaper: “We take action against posts, and sometimes the platforms use their independent discretion to make their own decisions, based on their own policies, to also remove a page.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Telegram to ask whether the platform removed the channel on its own accord or at the behest of a government but did not receive a reply.
Why Was Pavel Durov Arrested?
Telegram has long been known for its lax moderation policies and refusal to comply with court orders regarding the removal of content from its platform, which is part of what France alleges is behind Durov’s arrest. And the claim of Israeli influence is just outright wrong.
Torba’s insinuation that Durov may have been arrested due to pressure from Israel, despite Telegram potentially complying with a request from the country to remove DDoSecrets’ channel, is backed by no evidence and makes little sense.
In a statement to the Daily Dot, DDoSecrets co-founder Emma Best noted that Torba has long despised the organization after it hosted data leaked from Gab three years ago.
“It’s unsurprising that Gab’s CEO has decided to continue the far-right campaign against DDoSecrets, but it’s disappointing that he’s become less creative than when he was leaked in 2021,” Best said. “The pseudo-Nazi should just call us a slur again.”
Supporters of Durov initially responded to his arrest by claiming that the action was politically motivated and solely related to efforts from Western governments to silence their speech.
But in a now-deleted post to LinkedIn earlier this week, Jean-Michel Bernigaud, the head of a French agency that works to combat crimes against children, said Telegram failed to actively tackle content linked to pedophilia.
“At the heart of the case is the absence of moderation and cooperation on the part of the platform, especially in the fight against child sex crimes,” Bernigaud said.
And when the charges against Durov were later revealed, they included, among other things, six counts of “complicity” with alleged criminal activity by the platform’s users. Telegram is also accused of ignoring law enforcement requests for data related to fraud and drug trafficking.
As reported by the BBC on Wednesday, Telegram refused for years to join international programs aimed at detecting and removing child abuse material online. In a statement to the outlet, a spokesperson for the Internet Watch Foundation, which works with online platforms to locate, report, and remove child abuse material, said Telegram does “not take any of our services to block, prevent, and disrupt the sharing of child sexual abuse imagery.”
French authorities, according to a French administrative document seen by Politico, indicate that the arrest warrant for Durov was issued back in March, long before DDoSecrets published the two Israeli leaks. The outlet further adds that the warrant came after Telegram refused to give French authorities information on a user “who admitted to raping a child” and “luring underaged girls into sending ‘self-produced child pornography.’”
Durov was released from custody this morning and is awaiting a court date.
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