Russian-born Durov is currently under judicial supervision in France, holed up in Paris’ glitzy Crillon hotel after being placed under formal investigation for alleged organized crime on Telegram.
“This spring at the Salon des Batailles in the Hôtel de Crillon, Nicolas Lerner, head of French intelligence, asked me to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of elections. I refused,“ Durov wrote on X late on Sunday.
The centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, won Romania’s presidential election on Sunday in a shock victory over George Simion, a hard-right, nationalist rival who had pledged to adopt a path inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump’s politics.
France’s DGSE said in a statement its officials had indeed met with Durov various times over the years “to firmly remind him of his company’s responsibilities, and his own personally, in preventing terrorist and child pornography threats.”
MUSK TAKES NOTE
Durov’s accusation was reposted on X by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, one of various powerful figures on the U.S. right who have accused European nations of suppressing far-right voices.
Durov had earlier on Sunday while polls were open said he had refused a request by a Western government to silence conservative voices ahead of the Romania run-off vote.
The French foreign ministry denied any such interference and called on all to “exercise responsibility and respect for Romanian democracy.”
The arrest of Durov last year ignited a debate about free speech online. Musk, who criticized the arrest of Durov, is also being probed by French prosecutors over alleged algorithmic bias on X.
Earlier this month, OpenMinds, a tech company focused on countering authoritarian influence, said it found that 24% of Romanian-language Telegram channels were spreading what it called Kremlin-backed disinformation.
Telegram said at the time users receive only the content they explicitly subscribe to.
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