Pavel Durov Alleges French Intelligence Pressured Him To Censor Moldovan Channels On Telegram In Exchange For Legal Favors During Election

On Sunday, Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of Telegram, accused French intelligence of pressuring him to silence Moldovan voices on his platform in exchange for leniency in his ongoing court case in France.

Durov Claims Censorship Request During Moldovan Vote

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Durov said that about a year ago while he was restricted in Paris under judicial supervision, an intermediary approached him on behalf of French intelligence.

According to Durov, the agency asked him to “censor” certain Telegram channels at the request of the Moldovan government, coinciding with Sunday’s parliamentary election that could determine the country’s path toward the EU.

Durov said he complied only with removing “a few” channels that “clearly violated our rules.”

However, he claimed the intermediary promised that in exchange, French intelligence would “say good things” to the judge overseeing his case.

“If the agency did in fact approach the judge — it constituted an attempt to interfere in the judicial process,” Durov wrote. “If it did not, and merely claimed to have done so, then it was exploiting my legal situation in France to influence political developments in Eastern Europe….”