French intelligence rejects Durov’s Romania election interference accusations

“The DGSE strongly refutes allegations that requests to ban accounts linked to any electoral process were made on these occasions,” the agency said in a statement.

On May 18, Durov claimed that a Western European government, implied to be France, asked Telegram to “silence conservative voices” in Romania’s election, writing, “I flatly refused. Telegram will not restrict the freedoms of Romanian users or block their political channels.”

France’s Foreign Ministry called the accusations of election interference completely baseless, while a Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesperson reported signs of Russian interference during the May 18 vote.

Romania’s second-round presidential election on May 18 saw pro-European Bucharest Mayor Nicuşor Dan win with 54% of the vote, defeating pro-Russian candidate George Simion, who conceded with 46%.