Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said the head of France’s foreign intelligence agency asked him to censor conservative voices in Romania ahead of the 2025 presidential election.
Durov shared the claim publicly on X, saying the request came from Nicolas Lerner, director of the Directorate-General for External Security, during a meeting this spring at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris.
This spring at the Salon des Batailles in the Hôtel de Crillon, Nicolas Lerner, head of French intelligence, asked me 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.
— Pavel Durov (@durov) May 18, 2025
Durov said he refused to heed the request. “Telegram has never silenced dissent in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We will not begin doing so in Europe,” he wrote. He also posted on Telegram, saying, “You can’t ‘defend democracy’ by destroying democracy.”
France has not responded publicly to the accusation.
Meanwhile, independent candidate Nicușor Dan won Romania’s presidential runoff election on Monday with 53.91% of the vote, defeating George Simion of the AUR party. The vote followed a postponed contest from late 2024, where far-right candidate Calin Georgescu was barred after alleged foreign interference.
