👮 Telegram CEO Arrested: How Podcasts Responded

On August 24th, French authorities arrested Telegram's billionaire CEO and founder Pavel Durov.

It's sparked a serious debate around politics, tech, censorship, etc

[you're not going to get any hot takes from us on said topics, don't worry]

but you will get some data on how podcasts have covered the story.

First though, who is Pavel Durov?

He’s been described as the “Russian Mark Zuckerberg” in large part because Durov’s first tech success was VK, Russia’s Facebook-equivalent social network.

During Russia’s mass protests in 2011-2013, VK (through Durov) refused to sensor accounts of anti-Putin activists. Durov also refused to hand over data on Alexei Navalny’s VK account. Navalny, as you may know, died in a Siberian prison earlier this year. Navalny found himself imprisoned in large part thanks to his anti-corruption activism in Russia.

So that brings us back to Durov, who left Russia and enjoys citizenship in St Kitts, Russia, UAE, and France. Durov has maintained that Telegram should remain a “neutral platform” and “not a player in geopolitics.” This matters because Telegram boasts 950M monthly active users globally. It’s a semi-encrypted messaging service a la Signal. And it offers mass group messages, similar to WhatsApp.

So then why was Durov arrested? 

Allegations against Durov include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law.

Critics of the arrest cite concerns over free speech.

So is Durov a good guy or bad guy? Depends on who you ask. Which might explain why this story’s been so widely discussed, especially in podcasts.

Durov was arrested on 8/24. Since then:

→ His name's been mentioned on podcasts 611 times

→ These mentions have reached at least 13.24M podcast listeners

→ Major outlets like BBC, NPR, JRE, PBS, WSJ, CNN have covered it

→ The median Podchaser Power Score of shows mentioning Durov is 71

And while this story plays out in France, here in the US tech leaders like Zuck and Elon have faced their own press blitzes about censorship and free speech.

Clearly the topic is driving eyeballs (err ear balls?).

How will it play out? Who knows.

But it's entered the cultural zeitgeist. At least for this news cycle.

Want to see all the data? Read more 👇️ 

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Introducing Lower Street Office Hours: Kicking Off with Steve Pratt, Co-Founder of Pacific Content, on Earning Attention

Lower Street is excited to announce the launch of Lower Street Office Hours, a free monthly virtual Q&A series dedicated to answering your most pressing questions about brand podcasting. Each session will feature insights from a leading expert in podcasting, followed by an open-floor Q&A where attendees can engage directly with the speakers and the Lower Street Head of Strategy and Development Annalise Nielsen.

Office Hours kicks off on September 18th at 5 PM BST. The first session will welcome Steve Pratt, a seasoned media professional with decades of experience and a proven track record in marketing strategy. Steve is the co-founder of Pacific Content, founder of The Creativity Business, and author of Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers.

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