Durov: French wanted to censor critical voices ahead of Moldovan elections

The founder of the Telegram app, Pavel Durov, accused the French secret service of asking him to censor Moldovan political channels during the investigation. He claims that an intermediary offered him a favorable statement before the judge in exchange for removing content that did not suit the Moldovan government before last year's presidential election.

While some channels violated Telegram's rules and were therefore removed, according to Durov, most were legitimate and their only “problem” was political views that were uncomfortable for Paris and Chişinău.

France has not commented on the latest allegations, but has previously rejected similar claims made in May that Durov had been pressured to censor Romanian conservative voices.

The entrepreneur and programmer pointed out that if French intelligence agencies were indeed trying to influence his case through the courts, it would constitute interference in the legal process. Otherwise, he said, they would have abused his situation to influence political events in Eastern Europe.

Durov is under investigation in France on suspicion of organized crime in connection with an app that is actively used by around one billion people every month, and is under judicial supervision. He denies the allegations and has described the accusations as “legally and logically absurd.”

(reuters, max)