The platform’s co-founder denounces attempts at government control over political content in exchange for judicial favors.
Pavel Durov, co-founder of Telegram, stated that French intelligence services allegedly pressured the platform to censor content related to the 2024 Moldovan elections. In return, he was reportedly promised favorable treatment by the judge overseeing his trial.
Telegram’s CEO categorically refused the proposal. According to Durov’s September 28 post on Telegram, the platform initially removed some content that violated its terms of service. However, when a second list of Moldovan channels deemed “problematic” arrived, the situation changed.
“Unlike the first, nearly all of these channels were legitimate and fully compliant with our rules. Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments. We refused to act on this request,” Durov stated.
Last May, Durov revealed a previous incident in which French intelligence allegedly attempted to censor content related to Romanian elections, a request that was also rejected.
“You can’t ‘defend democracy’ by destroying democracy. You can’t ‘fight election interference’ by interfering with elections. You either have freedom of speech and fair elections — or you don’t,” the Telegram co-founder wrote.
Following his 2024 arrest, Durov has become increasingly critical of the French government and the directions taken by the European Union. In June, he warned that, in his view, France was approaching social collapse due to state censorship and the failed policies of the current government.
The Telegram co-founder also stated that the platform will abandon any jurisdiction, including France, rather than compromise user privacy by handing over encryption keys or creating backdoors for government surveillance.
