Telegram’s Pavel Durov: We’re “running out of time to save free internet”

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov warns that governments worldwide are dismantling online privacy, saying society is “running out of time to save the free internet.”

His remarks come amid backlash against the EU’s proposed Chat Control law, which critics argue threatens encryption and digital freedom.

A grassroots campaign in Denmark, joined by millions across Europe, is pressuring lawmakers to reject the legislation seen as enabling mass surveillance.

Durov believes governments around the world are eroding digital privacy and dismantling the foundations of a free internet, and says it will eventually make the current generation “the last one that had freedoms.”

In a post on X, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said he feared society was “running out of time to save the free internet built for us by our fathers,” as democratic nations front laws that increase state control over online communication.

Durov, who turned 41 this week, said he saw little reason to celebrate. “What was once the promise of the free exchange of information is being turned into the ultimate tool of control,” he wrote. His remarks follow discussions of a European Union proposal known as “Chat Control,” which could give regulators authority to scan private messages on encrypted platforms.

Durov: A dark, dystopian world is approaching while we are asleep

In his post, Durov singled out several Western democracies, accusing them of undermining civil liberties in the name of child safety, only to enforce surveillance and government oversight.

“Germany is persecuting anyone who dares to criticize officials on the internet. The UK is imprisoning thousands for their tweets. France is criminally investigating tech leaders who defend freedom and privacy,” Durov wrote, referring to his arrest and indictment in Paris one year ago.