Telegram founder Pavel Durov has accused French intelligence of attempting to pressure his company into censoring political content tied to Moldova’s 2024 presidential election.
He explained that the request came through an intermediary while he was in Paris, and it was linked to his ongoing legal case in France.
According to Durov, an intermediary told him that French intelligence wanted Telegram to remove certain Moldovan channels during the election period, and in exchange they would “say good things” about him to the judge who ordered his arrest in August 2024.
Durov explained his team first looked at the list of channels provided. A few clearly broke Telegram’s own rules, so those were removed. But then a second list arrived, and this was very different.
“Shortly thereafter, the Telegram team received a second list of so-called ‘problematic’ Moldovan channels. 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,” he wrote in his post.
He added that the offer from intelligence was troubling. If true, it meant that French officials were ready to interfere with a legal process. If false, it meant they were using his legal troubles to try and shape political outcomes in another country. Either way, Durov said, Telegram would not allow itself to be used for such purposes.
This was not the only time he said pressure was put on Telegram. In May 2025, Durov claimed that French intelligence also asked him to censor political content connected to Romania’s elections. That request was also rejected. He wrote, “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.”
Durov’s case has drawn worldwide attention. His arrest in France last year brought strong criticism from the crypto industry, human rights activists, and supporters of online privacy. He has since warned that France is heading toward collapse because of heavy censorship and poor government policies.
He also said Telegram would rather leave certain countries, including France, than ever give up encryption keys or build backdoors for surveillance. His latest comments come as the European Union considers a proposal to scan all online chats, even encrypted ones, which has already been supported by nineteen member states.
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