Telegram CEO: As countries expand surveillance powers, the "free internet" is under serious threat

Pavel Durov, founder and chief executive of Telegram, has warned that the "free internet" is under serious threat as countries expand their surveillance powers.
Durov pointed out that governments around the world are quietly depriving people of basic freedoms in the name of "regulation" and "security", posing an unprecedented challenge to the privacy and openness of the Internet.
"Our generation is running out of time to save the free internet that our fathers built for us," he wrote on X, marking his 41st birthday on October 10. He warned that a "dark, dystopian world was fast approaching", noting that countries once seen as paragons of freedom were now weakening privacy protections.
"Once-free countries are introducing all sorts of dystopian measures, such as digital identity cards [in the UK], online age verification [in Australia] and mass scanning of private messages [in the European Union]," Mr. Durov said.
He further stressed: "The promise of free information exchange in the past is gradually evolving into the ultimate tool of control. If this trend is not checked, our generation may be the last to enjoy basic digital freedoms."