Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov said that French intelligence pressured Telegram into censoring political content, which he refused to do.
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Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov claimed that French intelligence services asked him to censor content related to the election in Moldova in 2024 in exchange for saying “good things” to the judge overseeing his trial, which he declined to do.
Durov said initially took down some posts that “clearly” violated Telegram’s terms of service, but declined to remove any additional content for political reasons. Durov wrote in a Sunday Telegram :
“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 continued.
The crypto industry rallied behind Durov following his , and the related developments in his ongoing case, as the between tech platforms and state governments attempting to impose censorship polices unfolds.
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In May 2025, Durov pointed to a previous incident in which French intelligence services pressured Telegram into , which he also declined to do.
“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,” he .
Following his 2024 arrest, which drew widespread condemnation from the crypto community and human rights activists, he became highly critical of the French government and the direction of the European Union.
due to state censorship and the failed policies of the current government, he warned in June.
He also stated that , including France, before compromising user privacy by handing over encryption keys or building a backdoor into the messaging platform for state surveillance.
Durov’s repeated warnings about state-led attacks against online free speech and privacy came to a head in 2025, when an , including encrypted user communications, gained support from 19 member nations of the EU.
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