Explainer: Pavel Durov’s warning amid EU crackdown on social media, claims free internet is dying

(Credit: Patrick Chappatte, Internet and Censorship, published in the International Herald Tribune.)

Telegram founder Pavel Durov marked his 40th birthday with a stark message for internet users worldwide: “The free internet is dying.” 

His warning came just as the European Commission launched formal investigations into Meta and TikTok for allegedly breaching the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) — a sweeping law designed to regulate how large platforms handle data, disinformation, and harmful content.

The DSA, which took effect in 2024, gives Brussels broad power to demand algorithmic transparency, limit targeted advertising, and force companies to remove illegal or misleading material. Companies that fail to comply can face fines of up to 6 per cent of global annual revenue.

For European officials, the legislation aims to make digital spaces safer and more accountable. But for critics like Durov, it signals a dangerous turn toward centralized control of online speech.

 “Our generation is running out of time to save the free internet built for us by our fathers,” Durov wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“What was once the promise of the free exchange of information is being turned into the ultimate tool of control.”

Durov, often dubbed the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia,” fled his home country a decade ago after refusing to hand user data to authorities. Telegram, now boasting more than 950 million users, has long branded itself as a haven for privacy and free expression — qualities that have made it both popular with dissidents and controversial among regulators.

In his latest essay titled “The Open Internet Is Dying,” Durov accused European governments of weaponizing regulation to suppress dissent and impose a new digital orthodoxy.

“We’ve been fed a lie,” he said. “We’ve been made to believe that the greatest fight of our generation is to destroy everything our forefathers left us: tradition, privacy, sovereignty, the free market, and free speech.”

The timing of his post coincides with growing tension between Western regulators and tech platforms. 

On Oct.24, the European Commission announced fresh probes into Meta’s handling of political advertising and TikTok’s content-recommendation algorithms. Officials argue that opaque systems can manipulate public opinion and expose users to harmful content, particularly during elections.

A recent YouGov poll suggests that a majority of Europeans support stricter social-media regulation, with over 60 percent agreeing that platforms have “too much influence” on politics. Yet digital-rights advocates warn that the DSA could normalize government censorship in the name of safety.

Durov’s appeal to protect online freedom resonated widely among libertarian and tech communities.

 “A dark, dystopian world is approaching fast — while we’re asleep,” he said. “Our generation risks going down in history as the last one that had freedoms — and allowed them to be taken away.”

As Europe moves to enforce its toughest digital rules yet, Durov’s message underscores a growing global divide: should the internet be governed by democratic safeguards or protected as a borderless realm of free expression?

For now, the battle over what kind of internet survives the next decade has only begun.