Why was the CEO of Telegram just arrested? w/ Mallory Knodel

Why was the CEO of Telegram just arrested? w/ Mallory Knodel

Last week, CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov landed in France and was immediately detained. The details of his arrest are still emerging; he is being charged for being complicit in illegal activities happening on the platform, including the spread of CSAM.

Durov’s lawyer has referred to these charges as “absurd” — because the head of a social media company cannot be held responsible for criminal activity on the platform. That might be true in the US but does that hold up in France?

This week Alix is joined by Mallory Knodel to talk us through what happened:

  • What are the implications of France making this move, and why now?
  • How has Telegram positioned themselves as the most safe and secure messaging platform when they don’t even use the same encryption standards as WhatsApp?
  • How Telegram has managed to get away with being uncooperative with various governments — or have they?

Mallory Knodel is The Center for Democracy & Technology’s Chief Technology Officer. She is also a co-chair of the Human Rights and Protocol Considerations research group of the Internet Research Task Force and a chairing advisor on cybersecurity and AI to the Freedom Online Coalition.

Jaksot(107)

Big Tech’s Bogus Vision for the Future w/ Paris Marx

Big Tech’s Bogus Vision for the Future w/ Paris Marx

What’s the deal with Silicon Valley selling imagined futures and never delivering on them. What are the consequences of an industry all-in on AI? What if we thought more deeply than just ‘more compute...

22 Elo 202541min

Consciously Uncoupling from Silicon Valley w/ Cori Crider

Consciously Uncoupling from Silicon Valley w/ Cori Crider

How do we yank power out of tech oligarch hands without handing it over to someone else?More like this: Is Digitisation Killing Democracy? w/ Marietje SchaakeCori Crider is a fearless litigator turned...

15 Elo 202553min

After the FAccT: Labour and Misrepresentation

After the FAccT: Labour and Misrepresentation

Did you miss FAccT? We interviewed some of our favourite session organisers!More like this: Part One of our FAccT roundup: Materiality and Militarisation.Georgia, Soizic, and Hanna from The Maybe team...

25 Heinä 202550min

Short: Musk: Reanimating Apartheid w/ Nic Dawes

Short: Musk: Reanimating Apartheid w/ Nic Dawes

In May, Grok couldn’t stop talking about white genocide. This injection of right-wing South African politics triggered a conversation with a Musk contemporary, Nic Dawes.In this short Nic shares his p...

23 Heinä 202514min

After the FAccT: Materiality and Militarisation

After the FAccT: Materiality and Militarisation

Georgia, Soizic, and Hanna from The Maybe team just went to FAccT. Georgia and Soizic interviewed a bunch of amazing researchers, practitioners, and artists to give you a taste of what the conference ...

18 Heinä 20251h 4min

Making Myths to Make Money w/ AI Now

Making Myths to Make Money w/ AI Now

AI Now have just released their 2025 AI Landscape report — Artificial Power. Alix sat down with two of it’s authors, Amba Kak and Sarah Myers-West for a light unpacking of the themes within.This repor...

11 Heinä 202538min

Is Computer Science Made for Dudes? w/ Felienne Hermans

Is Computer Science Made for Dudes? w/ Felienne Hermans

Felienne Hermans calls herself an ‘involuntary ethnographer of computer science’. She studies the culture behind programming, and challenges the dominant idea that learning to program has to be painfu...

4 Heinä 202554min

The Elephant in the Algorithm: Live from ZEG Fest in Tbilisi

The Elephant in the Algorithm: Live from ZEG Fest in Tbilisi

Smart people focused on technology politics issues get it. We trade high level helpful concepts like surveillance capitalism, automated inequality, and enshittification. And even as some of these idea...

27 Kesä 202546min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
i-dont-like-mondays
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
kolme-kaannekohtaa
sita
mamma-mia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
aikalisa
rss-murhan-anatomia
meidan-pitais-puhua
loukussa
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
lahko
rss-napy
rss-nikotellen
terapeuttiville-qa