OPINION: Techno-Anarchists

The recent arrest in France of Pavel Durov, the “Elon Musk” of Russia, underscores the subversive global power and danger inherent in the accumulation of staggering wealth by a handful of technology tycoons.

These two men and others punch above their weight, roam the world in private jets, and control social media companies with unprecedented influence over societies, politics, and the world's future. They bypass regulations and laws, often taxation, use encryption, spread disinformation, and flout or push around leaders, nations, and norms.

They are arrogant and tainted. Durov is likely an agent of the Kremlin, and “Moscow Musk” is a sympathizer and fan. They are techno-anarchists who wield power with few constraints and disdain governments.

After Pavel Durov’s August 24 arrest, The New York Times wrote: “A hashtag #FreePavel spread globally among techno-anarchists as well as across America’s Silicon Valley oligarchy, now entrenched into Republican ranks and pro-Russian wack-a-doodles such as Tucker Carlson and J.D. Vance who believe that [exiled Soviet spy Edward] Snowden is a martyr.”

Musk believes Durov is a media martyr.

Musk and Durov run platforms that fail to appropriately moderate content. They bill themselves as champions of free speech but do so only to attract clicks and cash. Durov, 39, owns the Telegram platform, which is equivalent to Twitter or X. He also developed Russia’s VKontakte, which is comparable to Facebook or Meta. Durov’s platforms have audiences rivaling those of Meta, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat. With 700 million users, Telegram uniquely offers encryption, which means the messages can only be read on the device that sends them and the device that receives them.

It also provides “secret chat rooms”. Such features are popular in Russia and Ukraine, among pro-democracy groups in Iran and Hong Kong, and criminals.

Durov was born in Russia but claims he left in 2014 after falling out with Russian authorities who wanted him to shut down postings by opposition parties. Since he became a man with no fixed address and multiple passports, offshore entities have allowed him to dodge taxes and protect his assets from detection, litigation, or seizure. He has a French passport and, while visiting Paris, was arrested and charged with enabling an illicit transaction, a matter that could result in 10 years imprisonment and a massive fine.

Other charges included refusing to cooperate with authorities and being complicit in child porn, fraud, and money laundering offenses. He and Musk claim he’s being punished unjustly and is a champion of free speech. However, it’s also notable that Russia came immediately to his defense and criticized the arrest as intimidation and proof that the West is “totalitarian” and hates freedom of speech.

He's also a poster boy for American Republican-Conservatives like Musk, who posted, “Liberté Liberté! Liberté?” Chris Pavlovski, CEO of the right-wing video platform Rumble (which carries the Kremlin’s RT network live and is partially owned by Vice Presidential nominee J.D. Vance), claimed the arrest “crossed a red line.” Excuse the pun.

Musk demanded Durov’s release and launched a #FreePavel hashtag. He then elevated the arrest to a cause: “Let’s imagine Telegram crashes. How will we fight? POV: It’s 2030 in Europe, and you’re being executed for liking a meme,” he posted on X.

These billionaire tech bros—Musk and Durov—also lead strange personal lives. The two have fathered many biological children through IVF, or in vitro fertilization, the process of joining a woman's egg and a man's sperm in a laboratory dish. Musk has fathered a dozen children with a few women by this method, and Durov announced on his Telegram channel that, due to his involvement in a sperm donation program, he is now the biological father of over 100 children.

The two are loose cannons, geopolitically. Musk has run afoul of laws in several countries, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, concerning his takeover of Twitter (now called X). He’s bought his way into becoming a member of Donald Trump’s inner circle. He donated US$45 million a month for his presidential re-election campaign, and in return, he was offered a cabinet seat in a new Trump government.

He also convinced Trump to make his friend, J.D. Vance, his Vice President candidate. He has also upset governments, as has Durov. Platform X defied a judicial gag order in Brazil and was booted out of the country. X also spread falsehoods that led to race riots in Britain recently, and Durov’s Telegram was investigated concerning those riots because it hosted far-right channels that carried extremist and illegal content.

The most problematic issue is their links to Russia. Musk also owns Starlink, which has satellites that provide Internet service globally. Last year, the satellite service came under Pentagon scrutiny after Musk refused to extend internet access to Ukraine and prevented a surprise attack on Russian warships after he allegedly spoke with a Russian “friend.”

He then raised eyebrows after issuing a series of tweets outlining peace proposals that were only beneficial to Putin. A Pentagon official encapsulated how unacceptable all this was. "Elon Musk hasn't been elected, and no one has decided to give him that power. He has it because of the technology and company he built."

Durov also has questionable connections. If his story about defying Russia is true, why did the Kremlin come immediately to his defense after his arrest in France? He claims to have left Russia in 2014 because of the restrictions on Telegram there, but newspaper reports are that he has made more than 50 trips to his homeland between 2015 and 2021.

They also claim that his platform was not only unbanned there but also became the main communication channel for the Russian military after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Last week, his arrest followed a trip to Azerbaijan, where he hoped to meet Vladimir Putin in Baku, but he didn’t.

Zuckerberg testifies before Congress.

America’s Silicon Valley tech giants are simply too powerful and are global robber barons. Such concentration of power is dangerous. They can play fast and loose with countries, laws, taxes, and ethics. Facebook’s (Meta’s) founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has been hauled continuously before Congress for various misdeeds. Like Musk’s social media, Meta has not moderated content that has spread disinformation and hate across the Internet, which has divided and misinformed voters. Meta enabled the gang that pulled off the Jan. 6 riot and others.

It promoted hate that led to atrocities in 2022 against Rohingya refugees in Myanmar. It has profited for years from using copyrighted content belonging to the media and elsewhere without permission or paying royalties. Australia successfully took it to task over this, and Canada now attempts to do the same. However, the Silicon Valley lobby is so powerful in the US that any attempt to bridle it has mostly failed. It is also why the lobby supports Trump; he will grant them free rein.

However, tech companies have been taken to task for avoiding taxes worldwide. The European Union has led the charge to recoup billions from companies using tax havens to dodge taxation where they conduct business. The US has imposed minimum taxes on their offshore incomes and is trying to impose a global tax. Most importantly, however, tech tycoons are in control of artificial intelligence, crypto technology, and genetic tools that should be regulated globally to avoid massive job losses, financial chaos, and the creation of biological weaponry.

The next geopolitical battle will involve the world’s nation-states versus techno-anarchists, who believe that unfettered technology will empower individuals and communities to achieve self-governance, decentralization, and ecological sustainability.

In the United States, techno-anarchists in Silicon Valley back Trump because he will reduce taxes and end anti-competition investigations and restraints. He also now endorses the adoption of cryptocurrency without understanding the potentially disastrous implications of doing so. They buy leaders, and their wealth and clout grow. As these individuals and their companies march toward tens of trillions in assets, they will become a power unto themselves. And power corrupts.

Reprinted from [email protected] – Diane Francis on America and the World.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.