Key Takeaways
- Pavel Durov claims French intelligence tried to exploit his legal troubles in Paris.
- The Telegram founder said they offered favorable treatment in court in exchange for censoring political Telegram channels in Moldova ahead of elections.
- Durov continues to be tied in a legal battle with French authorities.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov has accused French intelligence of a ‘quid pro quo’ resulting in political censorship in Moldova.
The new allegations from Durov, who remains entangled in a legal battle with French authorities, add weight to concerns over Western involvement in Moldova’s fragile democratic process.
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Pavel Durov: French Authorities Sought Moldova Censorship
Writing to his 10 million subscribers on Telegram , Durov said that while he was stuck in Paris, French intelligence contacted him indirectly and asked him to help the Moldovan government block certain Telegram channels in the run-up to Moldova’s presidential elections.
According to him, the authorities provided a list of flagged channels, some of which “clearly violated our rules and [were] removed.”
But the removal came with what he describes as a quid pro quo:
“The intermediary then informed me that, in exchange for this cooperation, French intelligence would ‘say good things’ about me to the judge who had ordered my arrest in August last year,” he wrote.
Durov said the proposition was “unacceptable on several levels.”
He added: “If the agency did in fact approach the judge — it constituted an attempt to interfere in the judicial process.
“If it did not, and merely claimed to have done so, then it was exploiting my legal situation in France to influence political developments in Eastern Europe — a pattern we have also observed in Romania,” he added.
Soon after, Durov said his team received a second list of Moldovan channels from French and Moldovan authorities.
This time, however, the request was allegedly far more problematic.
“Unlike the first, nearly all of these channels were legitimate and fully compliant with our rules,” he wrote.
“Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments,” he wrote.
Committed To Free Speech
The allegations shine a spotlight on the troubling political stakes in Moldova, a country long caught between pro-European and pro-Russian forces.
Durov’s allegations also paint a troubling picture of governments pressuring private platforms into removing dissenting voices.
“Telegram is committed to freedom of speech and will not remove content for political reasons,” Durov insisted.
“I will continue to expose every attempt to pressure Telegram into censoring our platform. Stay tuned.”
The French intelligence services have not commented publicly on Durov’s claims, which come amid ongoing legal battles in Paris over his arrest in August 2024.
Durov’s Ongoing Legal Case
French police detained Durov for four days in August last year, alleging that Telegram was being used to coordinate money laundering, drug trafficking, fraud, and the distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Durov, who holds citizenship in France, the UAE, and St. Kitts & Nevis, called the arrest “unprecedented” and “absurd,” pointing out that no other tech founder has been detained for crimes committed by users.
For months, Durov was required to remain in France and check in with the police twice a week.
Since July, the Telegram founder has been permitted to travel for up to two weeks at a time, provided he returns to France on schedule.
However, the case has seemingly not led anywhere, with French prosecutors recently admitting that it is unlikely to go to trial anytime soon.
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