Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, accuses France of having sought to “censor conservative voices” in Romania

The Quai d'Orsay strongly denied on Sunday afternoon, the charges brought by the founder and CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, who had, earlier in the day, accused France of having sought to “Reducing conservative voices to silence” in Romania “Upstream of today's presidential election. »» According to multiple online testimonies, Mr. Durov's message, translated in Romanian, was also sent directly to Telegram users in the country.

“We do not fight” electoral interference “by making electoral interference”wrote Mr. Durov in a message that does not cite France by name but uses emoji “Bread wand” to qualify “A European government” Who would have asked him to censor content, which Mr. Durov says he refused. He did not specify either when these attempts or content would have taken place would have been concerned; Solicited, Telegram had not followed up at the time of publication of this article.

Of the “Completely unfounded allegations”writes the Quai d'Orsay in a press release published at the end of the afternoon, which contains a screenshot of Mr. Durov's messages barred with a “false” icon. The accusations released by Mr. Durov “Are only a diversion maneuver in the face of real threats of interference that target Romania”writes French diplomacy. “France calls for all Romanian political actors in responsibility and the defense of democracy. »»

“We see, again, the traces of Russian interference”wrote, at the end of the afternoon, the spokesperson for the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the social network X. “A viral campaign of false information on Telegram and other platforms seeks to influence the current electoral process. It was expected and the authorities denied the false information. »» Earlier in the day, the Romanian government had denounced a video broadcast on Tiktok Affirming that French gendarmes patrolled, under Romanian uniform, in the country – suggesting that a coup was underway.

The first round of the Romanian presidential election had been canceled, in December, by the Supreme Court of the country, after suspicions of serious attempts to manipulate public opinion. The candidate who came first, the ultra -conservative conspirator Prorusse Calin Georgescu, had benefited from a gigantic campaign in his favor on social networksinvolving many false accounts and paid influencers, according to the Romanian and European intelligence services.

Calin Georgescu was forbidden to represent-in the meantime, searches with his nearby entourage have also uncovered large sums of cash and weapons. It is another far -right candidate, George Simion, who came at the top of the first round on May 18, and is a favorite for the second.

Judicial control

Pavel Durov left France for Dubai, where the legal seat of Telegram is located in mid-March. Until then, it was prohibited from leaving French territory: at the end of August, he had been indicted of several charges linked to the lack of cooperation of his platform with justice and his lack of moderation of illegal content.

Mr. Durov, who has French nationality, disputes the accusations, but, according to multiple investigation services in Europe, Telegram now quickly cooperates with judicial requisitions. At the end of 2024, he also announced a hardening of moderation on his platform.

Three hours after its publication on Telegram, Mr. Durov's message accusing France of interference had collected more than 56,000 reactions – his account is followed by more than 11 million people on the application. George Simion, who accuses his opponents of seeking to fake the election, has translated it into Romanian and rebroadcast on his accounts on social networks; Several very influential accounts of the English far right have also rebroadcast it.