In short
- Durov claims that the French intelligence service IP data and forbidden has demanded political telegram channels in Romania.
- France denies itself to interfere with the burden of his outreach focused on the safety of children and anti-terror efforts.
- The row shows growing concern about authoritarian state correction on coded platforms.
Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of coded Telegram message platform, confirmed that the French foreign intelligence service asked him to prohibit conservative Romanian voices prior to the May 2025 presidential election, stating terrorism and concerns about the safety of children.
He refused.
“They met me – randomly to fight terrorism and child pornography,” Durov written On X on Monday.
Durov claims that the last subject was “never called”, adding that the intelligence service that deals with manipulative tactics, despite other intentions.
“Their most important focus was always geopolitics: Romania, Moldova, Ukraine,” Durov claimed.
The Directorate General for External Safety (DGSE), the French Foreign Intelligence Agency, is said to have searched IP logs for users linked to political conversations, Durov said.
“False imply that Telegram has done nothing to remove child pornography is a manipulation tactics,” he added.
Durov’s claims were first made public On Sunday morning, with French officials who deny his allegations hours later.
“France categorically rejects these allegations and calls on everyone to exercise responsibility and respect for Romanian democracy,” stated On X.
Decrypt reached to the ministry for further comment. Telegram’s press office did not return immediately Decrypts Request for comments.
Election interference and democracy
When the French intelligence head Nicolas Lerner was approaching Durov, the telegram -head was “downrightly refused.”
“You cannot defend ‘democracy’ by destroying democracy. You cannot ‘fight against election interference’ by disturbing the elections,” said Durov, expose The issue on his telegram channel.
The interaction happened somewhere in the spring in the Salon des Batailles in the Hôtel de Crillon, Durov recalled.
The worries about election interference using Telegram as an coded communication center for the recently closed presidential elections of Romania, where Nicusor then, a center, beat George Simion, a nationalist who had done publicly claimed To follow the political style of President Donald Trump.
Durov claimed that the French intelligence had asked him to block Romanian conservative voices in the run -up to the elections. The DGSE of France recognized meeting with Durov, but stated that these discussions were only aimed at “preventing terrorist and child pornography threats” on the platform.
Yet the founder of Telegram is no stranger to political research.
Last year he was arrested and held because of his alleged role in facilitating criminal content. The case remains unsolved.
The movement led to indignation in the technical industry. Notcoin and Toncoin, two cryptocurrencies associated with the Telegram platform via the Open Network, fell no less than 21% on the news.
After the arrest of Durov, the platform promised to share details and collaborate with authorities.
It is worth noting that Durov’s indictment came at a time when Telegram moved to make Crypto financial services a core function of his platform.
Those ambitions were impeded by their brush with authorities, Seth Goertz, a former American lawyer who specializes in cryptocurrency and cyber security, said Decrypt At that time.
“The more they go that way, the more they invite,” said Goertz, commentary on Telegram’s crypto and financial ambitions.
Published by Andrew Hayward
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