Telegram founder Pavel Durov has accused French intelligence of pressuring him to censor Moldovan channels from Telegram ahead of Moldova’s elections. He claimed that the request was made through an intermediary while he was under judicial supervision in France.
Moldova held parliamentary elections on Sunday, with results expected to shape the country’s path toward European Union membership. A pro-Russian opposition group is competing to challenge the government’s pro-EU stance. Against this backdrop, reports of pressure to remove Moldovan channels from Telegram have raised concerns about interference in political discourse.
In a post on X, Durov said that French intelligence allegedly offered him support in his court case in return for blocking certain voices. While he admitted that a few accounts violating Telegram’s rules were removed, he described the broader request as “unacceptable.”
Durov added that if French intelligence indeed influenced the judge in his case, it amounted to interference in the judicial process. He also suggested that if no such contact took place, the intermediary may have misused his legal situation to push political objectives in Eastern Europe.
This is not the first time Durov has made such claims. Earlier this year, he accused French officials of asking him to restrict Romanian conservative voices during elections. France denied those allegations at the time.
Telegram, which has over one billion active users worldwide, has become a powerful platform for political communication in Eastern Europe. The issue of Moldovan channels from Telegram being targeted highlights the app’s growing role in shaping narratives during elections in the region.
Founded in 2013, Telegram is especially influential in former Soviet states like Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova. The app’s encrypted nature makes it a preferred tool for both political activists and opposition groups, but also a subject of scrutiny from governments worldwide.
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