Arresting Telegram’s Pavel Durov could be a smart move. Tech bosses care more about themselves than you | Chris Stokel-Walker

An icon among free speech advocates, Durov has been living in Dubai since his refusal to give up users’ data to the Kremlin on his Facebook-like platform, VKontakte (VK). Yet, despite becoming persona non grata with the Kremlin, he has never managed to shake the suspicion among western elites that he remains in league with the Russian state. The fact that the Russian government has called for his release, with the former president, Dmitry Medvedev, telling the media “for all our common enemies now, he is Russian”, will further fuel those suspicions.