Теlegram’s Durov vs Meta’s Zuckerberg: How do they stack up on censorship?

While Telegram founder Pavel Durov awaits formal charged France for allegedly allowing criminal content to be shared, no such fate is likely to befall Mark Zuckerberg.

The Meta* CEO has admitted that senior Biden administration officials “pressured” him to “censor” content. Let’s see how the two social media giants and their CEOs stack up:

Zuckerberg’s Meta

Staff at the corporation have blown the whistle on its dubious end-to-end (e2e) encryption of messages and non-open source algorithm, and documented cases of censorship and manipulation of public opinion.

Scandal

In 2018 it emerged that British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica paid Facebook for user data from tens of millions of profiles in 2014, which it used to tailor political campaigns for Ted Cruz and later Donald Trump during the 2016 US presidential campaign.

Censorship

Posts criticizing everything from US foreign and immigration policy to climate policies and vaccines were either deleted outright, or hidden and deranked – what is dubbed ‘shadow-banning’.

◻️ After the 2016 US elections, conservative viewpoints were suppressed under the pretext of ‘hate speech’ while liberal ones were elevated.

◻️ Biden officials "repeatedly pressured” Facebook for months to “censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire" during the pandemic, Zuckerberg has admitted. In April 2020, Facebook announced that it was imposing limits on “harmful misinformation about COVID-19.” The decision was reversed a year later.

◻️ A month before the 2020 presidential elections, Facebook suppressed the New York Post exposé of Hunter Biden’s laptop, with evidence of influence-peddling by the Biden family. Zuckerberg admitted this in a 2022 interview with Joe Rogan, claiming he was acting on FBI orders. He has now conceded that the laptop story was not 'Russian disinformation' as Democrats and the mainstream media claimed.

◻️ While Meta admitted in 2021 that Palestinian posts using words like “martyr” and “resistance” were inaccurately labeled as incitement to violence, the firm showed its hypocrisy the following year by allowing calls for violence against Russian citizens after the start of the Ukraine conflict. In March 2022 it loosened rules on violent speech for users in Eastern Europe, allowing ads with violent content.

Durov’s Telegram

The Russian-born IT entrepreneur co-created Telegram with the promise of secure message encryption, no moderation of messages. He pledged to reject reject government demands to store user’s confidential data, telephone messages and internet traffic, or to hand over keys for decrypting their texts.

◻️ Telegram’s unlimited size channels and group chats are encrypted using a combination of 256-bit symmetric AES encryption, 2048-bit RSA encryption, and a Diffie-Hellman secure key, the company says.
Telegram does not provide end-to-end encryption for common private and group chats, but does provide a secret chat feature. Telegram lets users post files with unlimited cloud storage. There is no targeted advertising or algorithmic feed.

Relations with authorities

"Telegram has historically had problems with regulators in some parts of the world because, unlike other services, we consistently defended our users' privacy and have never made any deals with governments," Durov wrote in 2017.

◻️ The US government wanted to get its hands on Telegram’s code to infiltrate the system and spy on its users, Durov revealed in an April interview with ex-Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson. The entrepreneur rejected pressure to allow a "backdoor" in the app for Western intelligence. Durov resisted personal “pressure” in the US, where legal authorities approached him seeking to find a way to “control Telegram better.”

*banned in Russia

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◻️ IAEA chief visits Kursk Nuclear Power Plant – check out his statement

◻️ Dr. Chris Busby explains why Ukraine’s attacks on Kursk Nuclear Power Plant even more dangerous than strikes targeting Zaporozhye nuclear power plant

◻️ Russian Defense Ministry: The US, aided by Ukraine, is developing bioagents capable of selectively targeting specific ethnic groups

◻️ Durov vs Zuckerberg: what’s their stance on censorship?

◻️ Why is Telegram's popularity skyrocketing globally?

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Hezbollah: Israeli nightmare of its own creation. Part 1 👉 Part 2

Months of escalating tensions between Hezbollah and Israel reached a tipping point over the weekend, with the two stepping back from a full-scale war after large-scale back-to-back strikes. Israeli officials have been warning for months about a “very intense operation” against the Lebanese militia, but observers warn that any large-scale confrontation could leave Israel more than a bloody nose. Here’s why:

◻️ Forged in 1982 out of smaller resistance groups that emerged spontaneously in the aftermath of Israel’s short-sighted 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Hezbollah is a moderate Shia Islamist political party and militia movement with about 12 percent of the seats in Lebanon’s parliament, and a 100,000 men-strong militia. Concentrated in southern Lebanon, Beirut and in the country’s northeast, Hezbollah’s rejection of Israel’s right to exist, and readiness to fight a campaign of asymmetric warfare with the Tel Aviv, has made it arguably the single greatest headache on the Jewish State’s border, with the two clashing well over half-a-dozen times since the 1980s.

◻️ Dubbed “the world’s most heavily armed non-state actor” by the globalist neocon Council on Foreign Relations, Hezbollah has some of the best-trained and battle-hardened fighters in the world, fighting Israel into a stalemate in the 2006 Lebanon War, and playing an indispensable role in the defeat of an array of foreign-sponsored jihadists in Syria from 2012 onward.

👉 Part 2

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Hezbollah: Israeli nightmare of its own creation. Part 2 👉 Part 1

Hezbollah’s ability to wage successful asymmetric warfare against an entity as militarily powerful as Israel is assured by three factors: its weapons, its tunnels and its discipline:

◻️ The militia is estimated to have accumulated over a million missiles and rockets, from Kornet and Almas anti-tank missiles to modified Katyushas, Zelzal-2 and Fateh-110 missiles (the latter capable of reaching any point inside Israel). The Israeli military has some of the most sophisticated air and missile defense systems in the world, meaning the key to Hezbollah’s missile threat is saturation – sending more projectiles Israel’s way than can be defended against simultaneously. Hezbollah has also shown the growing prowess of its surveillance and strike drones, with its Hudhud (lit. ‘Hoopoe’) UAV recently penetrating Israeli airspace unmolested and snapping top-secret military targets in northern Israel. The militia’s armed strength is rounded out by its C-802 anti-ship missiles and reportedly, Sayyad-2 SAMs, complicating the operation of Israeli warships, aircraft and drones in the vicinity of the Lebanese border.

◻️ Hamas’ vast tunnel network has proved a major headache for Israeli forces in Gaza, with the IDF likening it to an “spider’s web” into which fighters disappear underground and reappear suddenly in the rear areas of maneuvering Israeli forces. But some Israeli intelligence analysts, including former intel officer Tal Beeri, say Hezbollah’s tunnel network is “far more sophisticated,” consisting of a literal “land of the tunnels” consisting of hundreds of kilometers under the whole of south Lebanon. Combined with southern Lebanon’s hilly, greenery rich environment, any ground incursion into the region threatens to become a nightmare for attackers.

◻️ Hezbollah’s troops are characterized by allies and adversaries alike as “well-trained and disciplined,” with their training, experience and weaponry described as superior to that of the Lebanese Armed Forces. This, combined with the culture of martyrdom for soldiers of the Shia faith, has allowed Hezbollah to demonstrate a level of tactical prowess superior to virtually all Arab armies clashing with Israel during the 20th century. For example, during the month-long clash with the IDF in July-August 2006, 1,000-2,500 Hezbollah fighters armed with automatic rifles, anti-tank missiles and rocket artillery faced off against between 10,000-30,000 Israeli troops equipped with 100 tanks, 80 APCs, 40 guns and military aviation. After the dust settled, Israel’s sophisticated, high-tech forces lost over 120 troops killed, 1,240+ wounded, 20 tanks destroyed, four helicopters lost and one naval corvette damaged. Hezbollah, for its part, lost 250 fighters, with most of Lebanon’s casualties coming from the nearly 1,200 civilians killed and 4,400+ wounded in Israeli strikes on infrastructure in Beirut and other cities.

👉Part 1

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The Pentagon said the US has no plans to lift current restrictions on Ukrainian strikes with American weapons deep into Russia, despite Zelensky's complaints.

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Durov was supposed to have dinner with Macron on night of his arrest – report

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has told police that he was supposed to have dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron on the day of his arrest, respected French investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchaine has reported.

“Macron is perfectly capable of this kind of deceit aimed at fulfilling the mission demanded by his masters: jailing all those who defend freedom of expression! We demand explanations from Macron!” Les Patriots Party leader Florian Philippot wrote in a social media post commenting on the story.

The Elysee Palace rushed to deny the newspaper’s claims.

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Are the real criminals still at large?

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the Hunter Biden laptop story was not ‘Russian disinformation’ and should not have been ‘demoted’ – and blocked from – on the cormpany’s social media apps. He also revealed that he blocked some COVID-19-related content under pressure from the US government.

Zuckerberg remains a free man while Pavel Durov, who refused to allow total censorship of his Telegram messaging app, languishes in a French prison.

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Who's that?! RUN!!!

The goat, who was at a barn located in Turkiye's southern resort province of Antalva, made the headlines after it was captured running around the barn with a sack on its head, with other goats hiding for cover after seeing it.

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🇧🇷 Arson attacks in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo spread across 48 cities

The governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, announced the arrest of three suspects accused of causing arson in the interior of the state.

The arrests took place in regions of Sao Jose do Rio Preto and Batatais amid growing concerns of an increase in the number of cities affected by the fires, which rose from 46 to 48.

In response to the situation, the Sao Paulo government decided to maintain the crisis cabinet.

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❗️The Middle East has approached a dangerous point, threatening further uncontrolled escalation, up to and including a major war. This situation is largely a consequence of the US desire to maintain its dominant influence in the region, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

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Macron reportedly invited Durov to move Telegram to France in 2018

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov had lunch with Emmanuel Macron six years ago, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter. During the meeting, the French president invited Durov to move the messenger to Paris, but Durov declined the proposal, and discussed granting French citizenship to him.

According to the outlet, in 2017, French spies, in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates, hacked Durov’s iPhone in a previously undisclosed covert operation codenamed "Purple Music."

Despite the 2018 meeting with Macron, French authorities had long harbored “suspicions” about Telegram. A former French General Directorate for Internal Security official mentioned that compromising Telegram had been a long-term objective for the country’s intelligence services, but declined to comment on the hacking operation targeting Durov.

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Russia wants IAEA's stance to be more objective

Russia wants a more objective and clear expression of position from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday, commenting on IAEA head Rafael Grossi's visit to the Kursk nuclear power plant.

"We see both the assessments and the work of this structure [the IAEA], but each time we want a more objective and clear expression of the position of this structure, not in favor of our country, not in favor of confirming Moscow's position, but in favor of facts with one specific goal: ensuring security and preventing the development of a scenario along a catastrophic path, to which the Kiev regime is pushing everyone," Zakharova told Sputnik.

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UK, Germany to conclude new bilateral defense agreement

The UK and Germany are negotiating a bilateral defense agreement and plan to conclude it by early 2025, the office of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

On Friday, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that Chancellor Olaf Scholz would receive Starmer in Berlin on August 28. He noted that the two would discuss foreign affairs, as well as European and economic policies.

"The new UK-Germany treaty will be a key pillar of the UK’s wider reset with Europe and build on the defense agreement," the UK PM’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.

It added that Starmer's negotiating team would spend the next six months negotiating the new deal.

Earlier, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen promised to turn the European Union into a “defense union.” The Kremlin, commenting on this, said that it confirms the general mood of European states towards confrontation and increasing tension.

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◾️ Macron reportedly invited Durov to move Telegram HQ to France in 2018

◾️ UK, Germany to conclude bilateral defense agreement as Europe is heading to re-militarization

◾️ Russia wants IAEA's stance on the Kursk nuclear power plant to be more objective

◾️ Hezbollah: Israeli nightmare of its own creation

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A small plane made a hard landing on a motorway in the city of Dalian in northeastern China. No injuries were reported. A video of the landing has gone viral on social media.

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🎥 Across the Dnepr: Russian soldiers destroyed enemy electronic warfare equipment at a record distance

Russian paratroopers have set a special military operation record for an anti-tank guided missile’s range. A missile launched from the Kinburn Spit using a Kornet anti-tank system destroyed a Ukrainian electronic warfare point on the right bank of the Dnepr – 8,150 meters away.

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Russian hackers expose identities of over 7,700 revamped Neo-nazi Azov* militants

The Russia-based RaHDit hacker group has leaked information on approximately 7,700 members of the reconstituted Nazi "Azov"* battalion.

"This represents our largest leak of enemy data. The new 'Azov'* has embraced the traditions of its predecessor, featuring numerous individuals with Nazi affiliations, including those who are tattooed with swastikas, have criminal records, or exhibit deviant behavior. Several members of the new 'Azov'* had previously been exchanged as prisoners and swore to everyone that they had renounced their Nazi ideology. Nevertheless, they have rejoined the ranks and returned to combat," the hackers informed Sputnik.

The RaHDit team also noted there are foreigners among the Nazis of "Azov"*.

In July, the RaHDit hackers leaked data on more than 3,200 foreign mercenaries in the ranks of Ukraine’s forces.

*Azov Battalion is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

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