Kill the Messenger.

A billionaire arrested for supporting freedom of speech. Another threatened by judges and the European Union itself.

It’s been an insane week to illustrate how badly our governments want absolute control of our sovereignty.

Read more in today’s letter →

📖 ESTIMATED READ TIME: 6 minutes 15 seconds

Revenge of a king.

In the shadowed corridors of medieval Europe, where power was as much about the clashing of swords as it was about the rattling of coin, the Knights Templar emerged not just as warriors of faith, but as some of history’s earliest financial titans.

Born in 1118 the city of Jerusalem—known as Al-Quds and Yerushalayem by its respective Muslim and Jewish inhabitants—the order of the Knights Templar was initially founded to protect religious pilgrims on their journey through Europe to the Holy Land. However, they would soon find themselves at the heart of Europe's financial system.

Their network of fortress-monasteries across Christendom became not just warrior strongholds, but also banks. Places where nobles and monarchs alike deposited their wealth, seeking the Templars’ famed security and discretion.

Among these nobles was King Philip IV of France, known as Philip the Fair. Whose reign, amongst many other things, was marked by his penchant for accumulating crushing debt.

Philip, ever in need of funds for his wars and lavish court, turned to the Templars for loans. These loans were not mere transactions but bonds of power; the Templars, with their international reach and vast resources, could dictate terms, subtly influencing royal policy through financial leverage. Their gold made them silent partners in the governance of realms, their wealth giving them a voice in the councils of kings.

However, this symbiotic relationship soured as Philip's debts grew. The Templars, bound by their vows and the need to protect their own interests, could not simply endlessly extend credit, or wantonly forgive those who owed them.

Herein lay the seeds of conflict: a king who saw his sovereignty challenged by a military order that held the purse strings to his kingdom.

Philip's response was not through negotiation or repayment, but through a calculated act of betrayal.

On Friday the 13th of October 1307, under the guise of rooting out heresy, Philip ordered the arrest of all Templars in France. The charges were absurd, ranging from blasphemy to idol worship, but they served their purpose: to tarnish the Templars' reputation and justify the seizure of their assets.

The trials that followed were a spectacle of royal vengeance.

The Templars were paraded as heretics. Their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was subjected to torture until he confessed to crimes he did not commit. The wealth of the Templars, amassed over centuries, was confiscated, and their properties were absorbed by the French crown or transferred to the rival Knights Hospitaller.

Philip’s act of retribution was a masterstroke of political theatre, not just about erasing debt, but about reasserting absolute control.

His actions sent a chilling message across Europe: no entity, no matter how noble or rich, no independent power, could challenge the will of a king without facing dire consequences.

Kill the messenger.

France no longer has a king like Philip IV. Yet the actions of the government that now reigns in his place easily echoes the persecution of the Templars some 700 years ago.

Just this past week, on the 25th of August, Pavel Durov, the CEO and founder of encrypted messaging app Telegram, was arrested in France.

Since its launch in 2013, Durov has positioned Telegram as a bastion of free speech, a neutral refuge away from government oversight and influence. Since then, nearly a billion users have flocked to the app, in part due to Telegram’s focus on end-to-end encryption and privacy.

France, however, says Telegram is a tool that fosters crime.

Durov has been charged with being an accomplice to crimes like drug trafficking, terrorism, distribution of child abuse materials, and “allowing” crime on the app.

The media is heavily focusing on the child abuse section of the charges, suggesting Durov’s arrest is fair and essential to protect children worldwide. And who would ever disagree with “protecting the children?” If you position it based on that statement alone, with no accompanying nuance or context, even I can’t argue against it.

But nuance and context are key here.

On Meta’s Instagram and Facebook platforms, distributing child abuse material is expressly forbidden under its terms of service. Telegram’s TOS forbids exactly the same thing.

In 2023, Meta reported nearly 80 million instances of child abuse material on its platforms that year. Meta uses a combination of AI tools and user reports to remove offending content from its sites. Telegram removes content in exactly the same way.

It begs the question: why hasn’t Mark Zuckerberg been arrested as the CEO of Meta under the same grounds on which France is holding Durov?

It could have something to do with the fact that in 2022, Meta and Zuck responded to 450,000 requests from agencies like the FBI and governments like the European Union to hand over user data. On the other hand, Telegram has publicly stated it refuses to provide similar data to governments, as its entire business model based on user privacy.

Based on those facts, it doesn’t take much imagination to realise this probably has nothing to do with abuse material on Telegram. Instead, it’s more likely the government is sending a clear message to anyone who refuses to bow to their agenda of control over information, user data, and speech.

Arresting Durov for allowing people to share information privately is akin to shooting your postman because he delivered a letter you don’t like.

Yet Durov’s plight isn’t the only similar story happening in our world right now.

Early this past August, billionaire Elon Musk shared how the European Union sent him a formal letter demanding that he censor his interview with Donald Trump on X, even before it was held. Of course, Musk (very publicly) refused.

Then just last week, X removed its legal representative in Brazil, after Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened her with arrest after refusing to comply with a demand that X believed was not legal.

In response, judge Moraes froze the entirety of Starlink’s assets in Brazil.

No, you didn’t read that wrong. The refusal of X to comply resulted in the judge freezing the assets of a completely different company that Musk is involved in. Starlink is owned by SpaceX, which Musk doesn’t even hold a majority stake in. A company that has nothing to do with X.

It’s an obvious message that Musk should unquestioningly obey the government’s authority or face consequences.

Things escalated on Friday, as Moraes ordered Apple and Google to remove X—the most used news app in Brazil—from being downloaded in app stores.

As of midnight Friday, X is blocked in Brazil. Any Brazilian found accessing it via a VPN is liable to be fined up to 50,000 reais ($9,000 USD) per day.

Billionaires like Musk and Durov shouldn’t be above the law. But it’s clear the law isn’t being applied fairly or equally across all billionaires. Only those who refuse to censor or allow complete government control of our data seem to be targets.

Musk and Durov are our Templar Knights. The governments of the EU, France, and Brazil are modern-day equivalents of Prince Philip IV having a temper tantrum.

Our leaders won’t stop painting targets on people like Durov and Musk. Because it’s never been about crime. If it was, every other messaging app and social platform would have been shut down already.

Governments despise independent power.

They hate those they can’t control.

They hate those who won’t obey.

Henry David Thoreau said it best: “Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.”

Which is why we must disobey.

Disobey by downloading Telegram and using it often. Disobey by honestly speaking your mind, even when you know it’s not what others may wish to hear. Disobey by questioning your government.

Just disobey.

Because if we don’t now, there may come a time when we can’t anymore.

Written by Leon Hill.
Founder, Anticitizen.

This newsletter is for educational purposes, and is not financial advice. Please do your own research, and consider risks involved with investing or purchasing any asset.