On August 26th, according to Cointelegraph, after the arrest of Pavel Durov, CEO of encrypted messaging app Telegram, Chris Pavlovski, founder and CEO of online video platform Rumble, said he had "left" Europe. He claimed that France "threatened Rumble" and "crossed a red line" by arresting Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram. In November 2022, Rumble banned French users, claiming that the French government had asked it to remove "certain Russian news sources" and saying it would file a legal challenge. In May, Pavlovski also claimed that Russia had banned Rumble because it "refused to comply with its censorship demands". Pavlovski wrote: "We are currently fighting in French courts and we hope Pavel Durov will be released immediately." He did not reveal which countries he had left or where he is currently. Rumble did not immediately respond to a request for comment.