Why even bother arresting Telegram’s CEO when Matrix is a thing.
Why even bother fining VW for Dieselgate when Tesla is a thing
What does that even mean???
Because almost nobody uses Matrix compared to Telegram. And it’s not even about if some people can slip through the fingers of western intel services, it’s about controlling the narrative and putting the clamps on information and telegram is almost as much of a news site as it’s a live chat. Telegram is just popular enough that it pokes holes into narratives and harms the mainstream media bubble.
Telegram also amplifies narratives by governments which they don’t know how to present via TV and such.
It allows for government propaganda and trolling to look grassroots.
At least in Russia the actual bulk of government propaganda (and activity in the opposite direction too) happens in TG, being supposedly not official. Also the biggest Russian-language channels aimed at some other CIS countries are most likely directly controlled by their governments or sometimes biggest opposition groups (of the “oligarchy” kind).
It may be hard to believe, but maybe people who arrested Durov are trying to improve the world.
What does this mean
matrix.org element is the most well-known client, and probably the best one.
Huh?
Matrix is an encrypted chat protocol.
Wow!
You’re welcome
I’m sure if the Hodgson went to France, they’d arrest him, too.
Arrest or defection? 🤔
He already left Russia a very long time ago, chased out over VK refusing to cooperate essentially. Now VK is very much government controlled
Yet he apparently visited it a couple dozen times after he “fled” Russia. Or maybe this is misinformation.
But anyway I wouldn’t trust Durov, because he seemed sufficiently cooperating for all the time of VK’s existence.
For all the time of VK’s existence? He hasn’t been involved with VK since 2014, it says that literally at the top of his Wikipedia page.
2014 is the same time that Russia’s real fascist face started to show in terms of the laws the duma was putting out internally and of course the actual invasion of Crimea and the attrocities carried out by Russia that followed. Lots of businessmen saw which way the wind was blowing and fled.
I do not trust any billionaire asshat, least of all a tech billionaire asshat, and if you read the libertarian new age techbro drivel the guy says on his telegram announcement thingie you just know his political opinions are probably dogshit, but I don’t think he’s in open cooperation with the fucking Kremlin.
The only suspicious thing here is the unbanning of Telegram in Russia. There’s of course the explanation that it was practically ineffective, and roskomnadzor unblocked it to save face, as they were made quite a laughing stock of at the time by the public (I am Russian originally and was still in touch with the russian internet scene back then, so this is my personal experience). But it’s also very possible they paid him off, so I’m not necessarily defending him either.
As for his visits to Russia, it’s clear for what purpose. I don’t think visiting e.g. family is an issue necessarily, so it can’t be used as proof of collaboration. I am also not sure whether it’s true.
I “trust” him in the sense that now that I am a resident of a five eyes nation, I would not use a western company’s service because backroom dealings will always be done and compromises will be made, much like how if I was still in Russia, I would only use west-aligned services with whom the Russian state is unlikely to deal with. His arrest is only further proof of it.
Unless it’s just a power grab due to the role Telegram started playing in the information war during the war in Ukraine, in use by both sides.
People babble on about E2EE and how there’s only metadata, but shit, you can infer a lot from metadata, depending on how extensive it is, and you will only be able to do more now with ML.
What telegram has that other messengers don’t is a solid business model that doesn’t rely on data collection. Meta definitely does not. Signal also does not. The pressure is on them.
If signal was usable at all I would use it, if you could send actual .gif files like a normal person in WhatsApp, I would use it, and if Matrix had more than 5 users, I’d consider it.
I will never understand why people defend this idiot. Plenty of secure chat apps exists in the EU without problems. Matrix for example is used by both the German and the French government. Telegrams CEO is just reaping what he sowed by ignoring French warrants.
I’ve never heard anything about ignoring French warrants…?
According to TF1 he was arrested due to lack of cooperation with law enforcement regarding suspected complicity in drug trafficking, CSAM, and fraud. So my interpretation is that they repeatedly ignored french law enforcement asking Telegram to take down certain channels. Maybe warrant was the wrong word I am not a native speaker.
There were warrants issued on March 25 to him and his brother, which were ignored.
He knows how to be appealing to other idiots.
Actually one can call it genial business sense.
He made a social network first, then evaluated which parts of it were most efficient in attracting people, and made a social network masqueraded as an instant messenger.
A deliberately insecure one, but pretending to be secure in a tone appealing to idiots, again.
This may mean he’s not an idiot himself, just an asshole.
You do NOT need to post this to every technology group on every Lemmy instance.
Isn’t that the way that federation work!?
Not at all, actually.
Did they announce the charges?
Things he’s definitely guilty of, but no more than Zuck or someone else. So likely not the real reason.
