SAEDNEWS: Telegram’s founder revealed that ahead of Moldova’s 2024 presidential election, while he was detained in France, French intelligence reportedly offered him help with his case in exchange for deleting some Moldovan opposition channels.
According to the political news service of SaedNews, Moldova and French intelligence services reportedly asked Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, to delete “undesirable” Telegram channels in exchange for assistance regarding his arrest case. RIA Novosti reported that this request was made prior to the 2024 presidential elections. Telegram, however, refused to comply.
Durov wrote on the social media platform X that about a year ago, while he was in Paris, French intelligence contacted him through intermediaries, requesting that he assist Moldova by censoring certain Telegram channels ahead of the presidential elections.
Durov explained that after reviewing the channels identified by French and Moldovan authorities, only a few of them violated Telegram’s rules, and those were removed. He added that the intermediaries then informed him that French intelligence would tell “good things” to the judge who had issued his arrest warrant in August of the previous year in exchange for this cooperation. Durov considered this unacceptable on several levels: if the intelligence service actually approached the judge, it would constitute interference in judicial proceedings; if it did not and was only a claim, it still risked his legal standing in France while appearing as political meddling in Eastern Europe—a pattern he said had also occurred in Romania.
Shortly afterward, Telegram received a second list of so-called “troublesome” Moldovan channels. Unlike the first list, nearly all of these channels were fully legal and compliant with Telegram’s rules. Their only common factor was that their political positions were unfavorable to the French and Moldovan governments.
Durov emphasized that Telegram refused to comply with the request, reaffirming the platform’s commitment to free speech and stating that content would not be removed for political reasons. He vowed to continue exposing any attempts to pressure Telegram into censoring the messaging platform.
