Keen On

There’s a big fight, perhaps even a war, about to break out between Big Tech and governments around the world. It’s been brewing for several years now, but the news this week from France and Brazil suggests that conventional nation-states are increasingly confident of shutting down popular social networks and jailing their founders. For libertarians like That Was The Week publisher Keith Teare, this isn’t good news. In his editorial this week, Keith is particularly troubled by the French government’s decision to indict Telegram founder Pavel Durov.To make Durov liable for Telegram users is an injustice and an abuse of state power by officials who realise it is impossible to prevent privacy, so they resort to bullying and coercion.But I’m not so sure. If Telegram is, indeed, a dark web in your pocket, then the French government might have the right to not only arrest Durov, but even to make its use in France illegal. The legal implications of this case, as well as Brazil’s banning of X, are of course complex.