Free speech and online privacy: Pavel Durov's rise to the top

Telegram founder Pavel Durov is known for his focus on free speech and privacy-focused technology.

Telegram founder and free speech advocate Pavel Durov was born on Oct. 10, 1984, in St. Petersburg, Russia, and demonstrated an early knack for computer science, culminating in the entrepreneur establishing several successful online social media platforms.

While studying at Saint Petersburg State University, Durov became inspired by the success of the Facebook social media site and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg — eventually starting the social media platform VKontakte (VK) in 2006.

VK is a platform similar to Facebook but geared toward Russian speakers, and it is one of the largest social media platforms in the world.

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