Telegram's Durov says French spies pressed him on Eastern European geopolitics
Telegram founder Pavel Durov has revealed more details about an alleged attempt by France's foreign intelligence agency to pressure him into censoring conservative voices on his platform, dismissing their purported humanitarian concerns as a 'manipulation tactic.'
On Sunday, Durov accused the head of the Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), Nicolas Lerner, of asking him to take down Romanian Telegram channels ahead of the country's presidential runoff. The DGSE rejected the allegations of political interference, insisting that it had contacted Durov on multiple occasions only to 'firmly remind him of his company's responsibilities, and his own personally, in preventing terrorist and child pornography threats.'
'French foreign intelligence confirmed they met with me – allegedly to fight terrorism and child porn. In reality, child porn was never even mentioned. They did want IPs of terror suspects in France, but their main focus was always geopolitics: Romania, Moldova, Ukraine,' Durov said in a post on X on Monday.
The Russian-born entrepreneur argued that Telegram has long combated child abuse through 'content fingerprint bans, dedicated moderation teams, NGO hotlines, and daily transparency reports on banned content.'
'Falsely implying Telegram did nothing to remove child porn is a manipulation tactic,' he added, insisting that Telegram's extensive moderation efforts have been 'verifiable' since at least 2018.
Durov, whose company is headquartered in Dubai, was arrested in France last August and charged with complicity in crimes allegedly carried out by Telegram users, including extremism and child abuse. He was released on €5 million ($5.46 million) bail and dismissed the charges as baseless. He was eventually permitted to leave France in March after assuring the court that Telegram had increased cooperation with authorities worldwide.
In September 2024, the encrypted messaging service updated its privacy policy to allow the collection of metadata – such as IP addresses, device information, and username changes – for up to one year. According to the policy, this data may be shared with 'relevant judicial authorities' if a user is suspected of engaging in illicit activity.
Late last year, Telegram channels belonging to major Russian news outlets were rendered inaccessible across the EU. Durov criticized the move, claiming the bloc imposes more censorship and media restrictions than Russia.
The latest controversy emerged as Romania held a runoff presidential election. The vote followed a Constitutional Court ruling that overturned the initial result after right-wing independent candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round. The case was cited by US Vice President J.D. Vance during a February speech in Munich as an example of EU governments undermining democratic norms.
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