This podcast episode presents an in-depth look at Pavel Durov's journey from creating VKontakte, Russia's equivalent of Facebook, to founding Telegram, a messaging app that champions user privacy and security. It highlights Durov's principled stance against governmental pressure for data sharing, his establishment of a decentralized operational model, and the challenges faced by Telegram regarding its role in facilitating terrorist activities and its ongoing conflicts with European regulations, particularly the Digital Services Act. The episode culminates with the implications of Durov's arrest, underscoring the complexities of balancing privacy advocacy with legal accountability in the digital age.
