Durov says France sought Telegram censorship ahead of Moldova elections

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said on Sunday that French intelligence asked him a year ago to censor certain channels ahead of Moldova’s presidential election.

He said the request came via an intermediary, who suggested that in return French intelligence would “say good things” about him to a judge handling his criminal case in France.

According to Durov, the first list included some channels that clearly violated Telegram’s rules, which were removed. But a subsequent list contained mostly legitimate channels that shared political views disliked by the governments of France and Moldova.

“We refused to comply with this request,” Durov said, adding that he would continue to expose attempts to pressure Telegram into censorship.

Authorities in France and Moldova have not commented on his claims, which came as Moldova held parliamentary elections.