Fact check: Did France ask Telegram founder Durov to silence Romanian conservatives?
Paris has categorically rejected the allegations made by Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who has provided no evidence to back up his allegations.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/05/21/verifying-claims-that-france-asked-telegram-founder-to-silence-romanian-conservatives
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Paris has categorically rejected the allegations made by Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who has provided no evidence to back up his allegations.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/05/21/verifying-claims-that-france-asked-telegram-founder-to-silence-romanian-conservatives
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00Fact-checking claims that France asked Telegram to censor Romanian conservatives.
00:09Telegram founder Pavel Durov has claimed that France's intelligence services asked him to ban conservative voices in Romania from his messaging app ahead of last Sunday's presidential runoff.
00:23In a post on social platform X, seen 30 million times, Durov alleges the request was made personally to him by Nicolas Lerner, the French intelligence chief, and that he refused to obey.
00:37The allegations have been categorically denied by the French authorities.
00:41In a statement, the French foreign ministry described Durov's claims as a diversionary manoeuvre from the real threats of interference targeting Romania.
00:50But despite France's denial, the unconfirmed claims have spread virally online, amplified by Elon Musk and by journalists affiliated to Russian state media.
01:00The French secret services say they have been in contact with Pavel Durov in recent years to remind him of Telegram's responsibilities when it comes to preventing terrorist and pornographic content.
01:12But they have said that at no point those discussions dealt with any electoral process.
01:17Durov, who is Russian-born but has French citizenship, was detained by French authorities in August last year amid a probe into fraud, drug trafficking, organised crime and promotion of terrorism on Telegram.
01:31Euroverify reached out to Telegram asking for evidence to back Durov's claims but received no response.
01:38Unfounded allegations of European governments meddling in the Romanian presidential election have been rife since the vote was initially annulled back in November.
01:48But there is no evidence to support these claims.