‘Completely unfounded allegations’ Telegram’s founder accused France of election interference in Romania — a claim denied by Paris and amplified by Moscow
On May 18, the day Romanians headed to the polls for the second round of voting in the country’s presidential elections, Telegram founder Pavel Durov posted a series of messages on X accusing French intelligence of pressuring him to “silence conservative voices in Romania” ahead of the vote. The timing and content of the posts were widely interpreted as an allegation of election interference. Here’s what Durov said — and how France and Russia have responded.
Romania’s presidential election was initially held in November 2024. The first round was won by Călin Georgescu, a candidate widely described as a pro-Russian (a label he denies). The country’s intelligence services later stated that Romania had been the target of “aggressive hybrid actions by Russia,” including interference with the electoral commission. Soon after, the Constitutional Court annulled the election results.
During a repeat vote in early May, George Simion — a far-right candidate, who had publicly supported Georgescu — advanced to the runoff alongside Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan. Dan ultimately won the election following the May 18 vote.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov published a series of posts on the evening of May 18, just as voting in Romania’s presidential election was drawing to a close. In his first messages, he claimed that the government of a Western European country had asked Telegram to “silence conservative voices” ahead of the vote. He did not name the country, but included a baguette emoji alongside the words “guess which,” a not-so-subtle reference that many interpreted as a nod to France:
A Western European government (guess which 🥖) approached Telegram asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today’s presidential elections. I flatly refused. Telegram will not restrict the freedoms of Romanian users or block their political channels.
You can’t “defend democracy” by destroying democracy. You can’t “fight election interference” by interfering with elections. You either have freedom of speech and fair elections — or you don’t. And the Romanian people deserve both.
France’s Foreign Ministry swiftly rejected what it called “completely unfounded allegations” of interference in Romania’s presidential election, which had been circulating on Telegram and Twitter. Though Durov was not mentioned by name in the ministry’s statement, its official post on X included a screenshot of his message with the word “FAUX” written over it.
The ministry pointed out that the first round of Romania’s presidential election, held in December 2024, had been annulled due to interference by “actors linked to Russia.” Investigations by both Romanian authorities and the European Commission “confirmed the seriousness of these interferences,” the statement said.
“In this context, the recent accusations against France are merely a diversionary maneuver from the real threats of interference targeting Romania,” the ministry added.
Hours later, Durov doubled down in another post, directly accusing France of attempting to interfere in the Romanian election. “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,” Durov wrote. “I refused. We didn’t block protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We won’t start doing it in Europe.” Durov did not specify what exactly was requested, when the meeting took place, or under what circumstances the alleged conversation occurred.
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The French government has yet to respond to Durov’s latest accusation, but his statement did receive public backing from Elon Musk, the owner of X. “Hear, hear!,” Musk wrote in response to Durov’s post.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also weighed in, pointing to what she called “a blatant violation of free speech and human rights in France.” “This accusation is far more serious,” she said. “It concerns direct interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and manipulation of a fundamental democratic mechanism — elections.”
Investigative journalist Christo Grozev was among those who criticized Durov’s claims, calling the posts “misleading.” Grozev noted that May 18 saw a wave of disinformation across social media — including AI-generated content — accusing France of meddling in the Romanian election.
“In this context of an avalanche of false news, [Durov] published a tweet that can only be interpreted as France asking Telegram now/recently to silence ‘conservative’ (i.e. anti Europe, pro-Russia) telegram channels,” Grozev wrote.
He reminded readers that Durov had been detained in Paris in August 2024 and remained under judicial supervision in France only until March 15, 2025, as part of an ongoing investigation. If Durov’s account of Lerner’s request — supposedly made “this spring” — were accurate, the meeting would have had to take place before mid-March. At that time, Grozev pointed out, presidential candidates in Romania had not even been formally registered.
Grozev suggested that if a conversation between Durov and Lerner did take place, it likely included discussion of evidence involving social media manipulation during the annulled December election. Whether such a request was legitimate or not, he added, would depend on the “timing and content.”
“If the so-called request from French intelligence was il/legitimate, [Durov] should explicitly state what exactly was requested of him,” Grozev wrote. “Otherwise it’s clear he’s playing for one side in this information war. (‘Guess which one’).”
On the evening of May 19, Pavel Durov published another post on X, continuing to accuse French intelligence of trying to influence European politics through Telegram:
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.
