In response to Durov's arrest, Elon Musk criticized France's move in a series of posts as a violation of freedom of expression. They also demanded Durov's release using the hashtag '#freepavel'.

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested by French police at Le Bourget airport in France. News of Durov's arrest drew outrage from Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk, who called the move a violation of freedom of expression.

Elon himself has recently restricted content moderation on social media to allow the publication of various types of content, such as hateful, controversial, and misinformation. According to Elon, moderation is another form of censorship.

In response to Durov's arrest, Elon Musk posted a series of posts on his X handle criticizing the actions of the French police. Condemned the allegations of moderation and illegal activities against Durov on his social media.

Twitter's new owner criticized France's move in a series of posts as a violation of freedom of expression.

He wrote in a post, 'Freedom, freedom! Independence?' And another post said, 'dangerous times'. In support of Durov, Musk also called for his release using the hashtag '#freepavel'.

"Forwarding X posts to people you know in support of freedom of expression is important, especially in censorship-prone countries," Elon wrote on his X handle on Sunday (August 25).

Meanwhile, French police said Durov was being investigated for fraud, drug trafficking and organized criminal activity. Some European countries have complained that Telegram has failed to regulate criminal content.

Durov was the founder of the Russian social media site VKontakte, but fled Russia after refusing to hand over user information to the Russian government.

In Telegram, he has repeatedly refused to control the conflict in Ukraine and Gaza and the communications of groups considered terrorist by Western countries.

Durov said on CNN in 2016 that messaging technology can't be built in a way that is not only safe for the general public, but also allows authorities to track terrorists or criminals. Technology must either be safe for everyone, or it won't be safe at all.

Note that while Elon Musk claims to be a 'supporter of free speech', he has been accused of silencing critics. He fired employees who opposed him and banned social media accounts critical of him.