Telegram CEO’s arrest unveils Europe’s march toward totalitarianism

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Pavel Durov’s arrest in Paris has scared the CEOs of other pro-free speech platforms — and rightly so.

French-Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov founded Telegram in 2013, following Russia’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011. Now one of the largest communication tools in the world, Telegram uses encryption, similar to Signal, to prevent bad actors — whether individuals or corrupt governments — from tracking your communications. Telegram is central to everyday life in places like Russia, Ukraine, and India. In fact, Russia had a problem with the app because Ukrainians were using it for military communications. That’s how secure the encryption is.

You would expect societies that claim to champion freedom of speech and privacy to embrace this app, while totalitarian governments that want to control their people's private communication would do everything they could to ban it. Yet it wasn’t Russia, Iran, or China that targeted Durov — it was France.

They are coming for Musk, they are coming for Rumble, and they are coming for you. This is not about your digital safety. It is about their quest for power.

Authorities arrested Durov at an airport in Paris earlier this week. The Russian embassy in Paris demanded an explanation from the French government. In response, the French government stated that Durov “was detained by the National Anti-fraud Office over the alleged facilitation of various crimes, including terrorism, narcotics, trafficking, and fraud.” They further accuse him of “allowing an incalculable number of offenses and crimes to be committed” on Telegram “for which he did nothing.” In short, they are charging Durov as an accomplice to the crimes others have committed while using his app.

In the United States, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects social media companies from being charged as accomplices to most crimes committed on their platforms. Though French and European law doesn’t fall under Section 230, their double standard for platforms that comply with their censorship campaigns is clear. For example, “60 Minutes” reports that New Mexico's attorney general is accusing Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg of enabling child sex abuse and trafficking on its sites. According to the attorney general’s undercover investigation, Facebook and Instagram's algorithms created a marketplace for the sexual exploitation of children, and Meta enabled adults to find, message, and groom minors, soliciting them to sell pictures or participate in pornographic videos.

Will France hold Mark Zuckerberg accountable for enabling child pornography on his platform? Why was Durov arrested for crimes that Meta has repeatedly been proven to facilitate? Could it be because Durov’s product counters government censorship, while Meta has openly complied with it?

Europe has been rapidly metastasizing into a global center for censorship, and the EU's Digital Services Act was the final nail in the coffin of what’s left of free speech on the continent. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley rightly called the Digital Services Act “one of the greatest threats to free speech that we have today around the world,” forcing social media companies to flag and report content that the EU deems harmful.

Shielded in dull, bureaucratic language, the Digital Services Act empowers the globalist EU government to censor any speech as it sees fit. It emboldens people like Margrethe Vestager, a Danish politician serving as executive vice president of the European Commission for “A Europe Fit for the Digital Age,” to threaten Elon Musk’s X with fines for refusing to comply with its censorship packaged as EU “guidelines."

Europe has been rapidly metastasizing into a global center for censorship.

Durov’s arrest has scared the CEOs of other pro-free speech platforms, and rightly so. Rumble founder and CEO Chris Pavlovski said, “I’m a little late to this, but for good reason — I’ve just safely departed from Europe. France has threatened Rumble, and now they have crossed a red line by arresting Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, reportedly for not censoring speech.”

“Rumble will not stand for this behavior and will use every legal means available to fight for freedom of expression, a universal human right,” Pavlovski added. “We are currently fighting in the courts of France, and we hope for Pavel Durov’s immediate release.”

Elon Musk is also concerned. “It is vital to the support of free speech that you forward X posts to people you know, especially in censorship-heavy countries,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter). He's saying that X posts are going to be hidden in countries like France, and the only way you can see them is if a person from a non-censored country directly sends them to you. Is Facebook held to this standard of censorship too?
Alexander Vindman, who was a key witness against Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial, said this in response to Durov’s arrest:

While Durov holds French citizenship, is arrested for violating French law, this has broader implications for other social media, including Twitter. There’s a growing intolerance for platforming disinfo [and] malign influence [and] a growing appetite for accountability. Musk should be nervous.

That’s a threat, coming from a Democratic candidate for Congress no less.

Is there really a growing intolerance for platforming “disinformation”? There may be within the elite ruling class but not with the American people.

This year at Blaze Media, we are breaking multiple records in our company’s history. We have a bigger impact now than when I was at Fox News. This is especially astonishing given our Facebook numbers. We can’t get any traction on Facebook, but this is not a new battle. It always silences our voice, and your voice, during an election season. And it’s only going to get worse.

Durov’s arrest is not an isolated issue. We have felt the rumblings of Europe's seismic shift toward censorship for years, but Durov’s arrest is the first major crack in the ground. The ruling elites want you to fall through the cracks along with him until they and their cronies are the only ones left above ground. They are coming for Musk, they are coming for Rumble, and they are coming for you.This is not about your digital safety. It is about their quest for power.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

POLL: What DARK government secrets will Trump uncover?

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Will the dark secrets of the Deep State finally see the light of day? Or will they slip back into darkness, as they have many times before?

The Trump administration is gearing up to fulfill one of Trump's most anticipated campaign promises: to make the contents of the JFK files, along with other Deep State secrets, available to the public. Kash Patel, who has promised to publicize the highly anticipated files, is expected to be confirmed next week as Trump's director of the FBI. Moreover, the House Oversight Committee created a new task force headed by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna called "Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets," which is tasked with investigating and declassifying information on the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations, UFOs, the Epstein list, COVID's origins, and 9/11. This all comes after the FBI found 2,400 "new" records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy following Trump's executive order to release the files.

Glenn discussed this topic with the cast of the Patrick Bet David podcast. Glenn expressed his confidence in Trump's radical transparency—on the condition that Kash Patel is confirmed. The cast was not as optimistic, expressing some doubt about whether Trump will actually unveil all that he has promised. But what do you think? What files are likely to see the light of day? And what files will continue to linger in the dark? Let us know in the poll below

Do you think the JFK, RFK, and MLK files will be unveiled?

Do you think the 9/11 files will be unveiled?

Do you think the COVID files will be unveiled?

Do you think the UFO files will be unveiled?

Do you think the Epstein list will be unveiled?

Transgender opera in Colombia? 10 SHOCKING ways USAID spent your tax dollars.

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The government has been doing what with our tax money!?

Under the determined eye of Elon Musk, DOGE has rooted out the corruption that permeates USAID, and it turns out that it's worse than we thought. Glenn recently read a list of atrocious causes that were funded by USAID, and the list was as long as it was shocking.

Since the January consumer index report was published today, one thing is clear: eggs are bearing the brunt of inflation. That's why we illustrated the extent of USAID's wasteful spending of YOUR taxpayer dollars by comparing it to the price of eggs. How many eggs could the American people have bought with their tax dollars that were given to a "transgender opera" in Colombia or indoctrinating Sri Lankans with woke gender ideology? The truth will shock you:

1. A “transgender opera” in Colombia

USAID spent $47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia. That's over 135,000 eggs.

2. Sex changes and "LGBT activism" in Guatemala

$2 million was spent funding sex changes along with whatever "LGBT activism" means. That equates to over 5.7 million eggs!

3. Teaching Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid binary-gendered language

USAID forked over $7.9 million to combat the "gender binary" in Sri Lankan journalism. That could have bought nearly 23 million eggs.

4. Tourism in Egypt

$6 million (or just over 17 million eggs) was spent to fund tourism in Egypt. If only someone had thought to build some impressive landmarks...

5. A new "Sesame Street" show in Iraq

USAID spent $20 million to create a new Sesame Street show in Iraq. That's just short of 58 million eggs...

6. Helping the BBC value the diversity of Libyan society

$2.1 million was sent to the BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) to help them value the diversity of Libyan society (whatever that means). That could have bought over 6 million eggs.

7. Meals for a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda

$10 million worth of USAID-funded meals went to an Al-Qaeda linked terrorist group. That comes up to be just shy of 29 million eggs.

8. Promoting inclusion in Vietnam 

A combined $19.3 million was sent to two separate inclusion groups in Vietnam inclusion groups in Vietnam (why where they separated? Not very inclusive of them). That's over 55 million eggs.

9. Promoting DEI in Serbia's workplaces

USAID sent $1.5 million (4.3 million eggs) to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

10. Funding EcoHealth Alliance, tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology's "bat research"

EcoHealth Alliance, one of the key NGOs that funded the Wuhan lab's bat virus research, received $5 million from USAID, which is equivalent to 14.5 million eggs.

The bottom line...

So, how much damage was done?

In total, approximately $73.8 million was wasted on the items on this list. That comes out to be 213 million eggs. Keep in mind that these are just the items on this list, there are many, many more that DOGE has uncovered and will uncover in the coming days. Case in point: that's a lot of eggs.

POLL: Should Trump stop producing pennies?

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On Sunday, February 9th, President Trump ordered the U.S. Mint to halt the production of pennies. It costs the mint three cents to produce every penny, which Trump deemed wasteful. However, critics argue that axing the pennies will be compensated by ramping up nickel production, which costs 13 cents per coin.

In other news, President Trump promised on Truth Social that he would be reversing a Biden-era policy that mandated the use of paper straws throughout the federal government. From potentially slashing entire agencies to saying farewell to pennies and paper straws, Trump is hounding after wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.

But what do you think? Was Trump right to put an end to pennies? And should plastic straws make a comeback? Let us know in the poll below:

Should Trump stop the production of pennies? 

Do you agree with Trump's reversal of the plastic straw ban?

Was this the most PATRIOTIC Super Bowl yet?

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The 2025 Super Bowl demonstrated Trump’s vision of a new America.

On Sunday, February 9th, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the biggest sporting event of the year. But this wasn't just a victory for Eagles fans. For those watching, it became apparent that American culture has changed, the zeitgeist has shifted, and America has become cool again. While remnants of woke culture lingered, they felt out of step next to the parade of American Flags and patriotic messaging that dominated the national event. The message was clear: America is back.

Everybody knows that the commercials are the best part of any Super Bowl, and last night's game was no exception. As Glenn has pointed out, while some of the ads still carried woke messages (like Nike's), many more captured the newly kindled patriotism felt nationwide. Here are four of the best commercials from last Sunday that make this the most patriotic Super Bowl yet:

1. Rocket: "Own the Dream"

This touching commercial by the financial services company, Rocket, states "Everyone deserves a shot at the American dream," while showing images of people returning home and building families. The ad included a cover of John Denver's iconic song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and featured an in-stadium sing-along, live from the Super Bowl.

2. Secret Service: "A History of Protection"

Donald Trump made history by being the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl, which required the efforts of hundreds of Secret Service agents to ensure his safety. The Secret Service boasted of this feat during their minute-long commercial, which lauded American values and achievements and featured iconic American imagery.

3. Brad Pitt: "Huddle Up"

The Super Bowl introduction celebrated snapshots of American achievement accompanied with a powerful commentary about unity narrated by Brad Pitt. The message is clear: Americans can achieve great things when we work together. The ad conjures up American ideals such as hard work, ingenuity, self-sacrifice, and teamwork.

4. Jeep: "Big Game"

Movie star Harrison Ford appeared in Jeep's Super Bowl commercial to promote freedom and to remind us that "freedom isn't free." Ford treks through the mountains while ruminating on what freedom means in America and the opportunities and responsibilities that come with it.