Durov has become a hero in the eyes of those who advocate for an unmediated Internet, including cryptocurrencies, even if that freedom leads people to use that network for all sorts of morally problematic and even illegal things. But Telegram, which is the channel of choice for almost everyone on Web3, is not exactly the encrypted nirvana we might ideally wish for. As tech journalist Casey Newton put it, explains:
“Telegram is often described as an ‘encrypted’ messenger. But as Ben Thompson points out, explains todayTelegram is not end-to-end encrypted, like its rivals WhatsApp and Signal. (Its ‘secret chat’ feature is End-to-end encryption is not enabled on chats by default. The vast majority of Telegram chats are not secret chats. That means Telegram can see the content of private messages, making it vulnerable to requests from law enforcement to access that data.”
Durov has often presented Telegram as a “secure messenger,” but outside of its secret chat feature, the service is more open to government intrusion than Signal, WhatsApp and iMessage. Telegram is not Bitcoin, where transactions are unstoppable. It is not a blockchain, which grants privacy in a different way than something like Telegram, which, structurally, is both a haven for free speech and a lure for middlemen, whether criminal or government.
The beauty of blockchains is that we don’t have to debate the motivations and machinations of men like Elon Musk, Pavel Durov, and Mark Zuckerberg. Free speech is built into the code. The free speech principles at play in Durov’s case should clearly be supported by the crypto community. But ideally we would have online public commons that were genuinely free from government intrusion and the whims of single men, however well-intentioned.
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