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Key Insights:
Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, was arrested in France on 25 Aug 2024.
He was arrested in connection to a case involving the lack of moderators on Telegram.
Durov's arrest was seen as an attack on freedom of speech over the internet, with most users supporting Durov.
Today, Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson and several others have openly criticized the move.
Durov could face upto 20 years of prison in France.
TON crashed 22% in intraday trading due to the above news.
Pavel Durov was arrested in the early morning (local French time) of 24 Aug 2024 in France after his private jet landed in Le Bourget airport.
The 39-year-old entrepreneur was detained in connection to an investigation and failing to moderate user activity on his platform, Telegram.
The app has emerged several times as a breeding ground for prohibited content, pirated movies, banned literature, and gambling activities. Further, Telegram has a group limit of 200k users, which allows several legal and illegal groups to use it as a preferred mode of communication.
Telegram is one of the largest social media platforms, with over 900 million users. It was about to go public in the near future, with an estimated $30 billion worth of IPO.
Durov's lawyer commented on his arrest and termed it "absolutely ridiculous" and an attack on freedom of speech.
The Russian Embassy in France was also one of the first to respond to Durov's arrest and said it was obtaining the necessary details on his arrest.
Several media houses and publications have been speculating that Durov could face a maximum prison sentence of 20 years in France.
The incident on Sunday was not the first or lone incident involving Telegram. The app was banned in Russia in 2018 and then reversed in 2021. In another incident, in 2014, the Russian government asked Durov to censor the opposition on Telegram.
Responding to a previous incident, Durov relocated from Russia and resides in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He also holds dual citizenship in UAE and France.
At that time, Western countries highly criticized the move, calling it an attack on freedom. Durov's latest arrest has been seen as an irony to that criticism.
Several famous personalities, including Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson, were the first to respond critically. Further, most users on X seem to oppose the move with the trending hashtags: "FreePavel" and "FreeDurov".
Elon Musk has tweeted in favour of Durov, mentioning the hashtag "FreePavel." The latter had earlier praised Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter and said that the platform was now becoming pro-freedom.
Ukrainian journalist Anatolii Sharii had commented that Durov's arrest was a pure attack on the freedom of speech and was no less than a terrorist attack.
Famous TV personality Tucker Carlson said the arrest occurred because Durov denied to "censor the truth."
Infamous ex-CIA analyst and American whistleblower Edward Snowden commented on the arrest, saying Durov's detention "was an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association".
Toncoin tanked nearly 22% from $6.81 to % to $5.32 on Sunday in response to Durov's arrest. However, Telegram and TON are no longer related fundamentally. This means that the fall was caused more by emotions and less by actual reasons.
Toncoin Crashes on Pavel Durov's Arrest
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Though TON initially stood for Telegram Open Network, it was made a separate entity, and its abbreviation now stands for The Open Network. TON also criticized Durov's arrest.
Lately, in H1 of 2024, TON rallied about 4x from $2.1 to $8.24, making a 392% gain in less than six months. This was based on several factors, one of which was the $30 billion Telegram IPO.
Hence, there might be very little impact on TON's price in the long run. Sunday's crash is mostly an emotional knee-jerk reaction, and the price crash could be seen as an opportunity to accumulate the crypto.
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