France’s foreign intelligence service on Monday rejected claims from Telegram founder Pavel Durov that its head had requested the tech mogul to ban pro-conservative Romanian accounts from the platform ahead of weekend elections.
Durov was sensationally detained in Paris in 2024 and is under formal investigation by French authorities over illegal content on his popular service.
“The DGSE strongly refutes allegations that requests to ban accounts linked to any electoral process were made on these occasions,” the Directorate General for External Security (DSGE) service said in a statement.
The Russian-born co-founder of Telegram alleged in a post on X on Sunday night that DGSE chief Nicolas Lerner had asked him this spring “to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of elections”.
“I refused. We didn’t block protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We won’t start doing it in Europe,” Durov, 40, said.
The centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, won a tense rerun of Romania’s presidential election on Sunday, beating nationalist George Simion in a vote seen as crucial for the direction of the EU and NATO member bordering war-torn Ukraine.
In an earlier post on Sunday, Durov alleged interference by France in the Romanian election.
“A Western European government (guess which) approached Telegram, asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today’s presidential elections,” Durov said on his channel.
The post did not name France but used an icon of a French baguette.
France’s foreign ministry said it “categorically rejects these allegations”.
The French intelligence service on Monday confirmed it had been in contact with Durov.
“The DGSE states that it has indeed been obliged, on several occasions in recent years, to contact PD directly to remind him firmly of his company’s responsibilities, and his own personal responsibilities, in terms of preventing terrorist and child pornography threats,” it said.
Durov was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris in August 2024 and charged with a litany of violations related to the popular messaging app he founded.
After days of questioning, he was charged with several counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content and released on a five-million-euro ($5.6 million) bail.
Durov has since announced steps appearing to bow to Paris’s demands.
In March, he was allowed to temporarily leave France and travel to Dubai, sources have told AFP at the time.
