Telegram Founder Pavel Durov: The Pharmaceutical, Financial Systems, and Independent Media Have Become Normalized Large-scale Scams
Telegram founder Pavel Durov, in response to the "normalized large-scale scams in society," listed the pharmaceutical industry, food industry, educational system, banking system, marriage institution, tax system, luxury goods market, "independent media," "non-governmental organizations," and even urban and national structures. He believes these systems have characteristics of "large-scale systemic fraud" under the long-term tacit approval of the public, merely covered up by legalization and institutionalization.
In English comments and investigations, the pharmaceutical industry has been repeatedly pointed out for systemic bribery, inflated pricing, and data manipulation, leading to massive "premiums" paid by public health insurance; the food industry has been exposed for "economic adulteration," "shrinkflation," and "false health labels," causing consumers to be systematically exploited under the guise of "normal market behavior." The education, financial, and media systems have also faced repeated criticism: university debt, the complex design of financial products, and the political capitalization under the "independent" label have all formed a structure that is "legal but unfair" within the legal framework.
This viewpoint resonates with extensive social discussions: from small "convenience fees," "data quota traps," and "luxury mental taxes" to lifelong expenses like health insurance, tuition, and mortgages, many "normal transactions" have been redefined by analysts as "institutional exploitation packaged as services." The core characteristic of these "normalized scams" is that participants are aware of the unequal rules but are still forced to continue participating, or they will be excluded from the social system.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
This essentially directly points out the gap between "system legitimacy" and "system deception." When a system no longer needs to "conceal" its fraud but instead solidifies exploitation paths as "standard operations" through laws, regulations, and social customs, its deception evolves from "individual fraud" to "institutional arbitrage." In such a structure, victims are aware of the problems but cannot escape, as exiting the system means losing qualifications for education, healthcare, housing, employment, and social interaction.
From a power structure perspective, these systems can be long-term "normalized" because they simultaneously hold "access rights" and "discourse power": pharmaceutical companies control drugs and regulatory channels, banks control credit and asset flows, schools control diplomas and class mobility, and media control information interpretation rights. The entities at these nodes use a "compliance" facade to repackage rents and information asymmetries as "public services" or "normal market prices," making "high premiums" institutionally accepted rather than viewed as fraud.
On a deeper level, as growth slows and resource constraints rise, systems increasingly rely on "hidden taxes" and "psychological taxes" to maintain capital returns, such as through mortgages, insurance, subscriptions, service fees, data monetization, and luxury premiums, broken down into small, repetitive, seemingly voluntary payments. The most dangerous aspect of this "boiling frog" structure is that it turns "being scammed" into a "reality of the adult world," thereby eliminating the legitimacy of resistance and questioning.
To some extent, Durov's "big list" is not about accusing "certain industries of wrongdoing," but rather questioning: when the system itself is seen as a "scam," what real exit paths do individuals have? This is an inquiry into "systemic risks" and "individual agency," rather than merely listing "normalized fraudulent behaviors."