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Pavel Durov: Putin’s Tech Bro or Tech Foe?

Pavel Durov: Putin’s Tech Bro or Tech Foe?

Great Business Stories vor 1 Jahr

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29:12

In 2012, Russian special forces arrived at Pavel Durov’s
door—automatic rifles in hand. He didn’t answer and curiously,
they left. They were there because Durov had built VK, Russia’s
answer to Facebook, and was refusing Kremlin demands to take down
certain pages. It made him a symbol of resistance. Or so the
legend goes.

The truth? It’s difficult to say with any certainty. He called
himself a defender of privacy, but quietly handed over user data
in India. He raised $1.7 billion for a blockchain dream, only to
have it shut down by the SEC. And in 2024, he was arrested in
Paris for failing to stop criminal abuse on his platform.

He’s part visionary, part myth maker—equal parts privacy
evangelist and pragmatic businessman.

This is the story of Pavel Durov- whatever the full truth is, it
makes for a cracking episode—enjoy.