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Musk reacts to Telegram founder’s Moldova election meddling claim — RT World News
Pavel Durov stated earlier that French intelligence had wanted his platform to censor some channels ahead of last year’s vote
Elon Musk has drawn attention to Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s allegation that France had attempted to interfere in last year’s Moldovan presidential elections.
The US-based billionaire shared an X post by his fellow tech entrepreneur claiming French intelligence had requested that his platform censor certain channels ahead of last year’s vote.
“Wow,” the SpaceX and Tesla CEO commented in his re-post of the message. Durov published his statement on Sunday as Moldovans were again heading to the polls to take part in the parliamentary vote.
In his statement, the Telegram founder claimed that the intelligence agency had approached him last year, seeking his aid in censoring a number of channels ahead of the vote. In exchange, it offered the businessman, who holds French citizenship, some assistance in a criminal case pending against him in France.
Although some of the channels flagged by the spies did violate Telegram’s rules and were removed, others were legitimate but expressed views unpopular with the French and Moldovan authorities, according to Durov.
Durov was arrested at a Paris airport in August 2024 and charged with complicity in crimes linked to Telegram users, including extremism and child abuse. He was eventually released on €5 million ($5.4 million) bail and placed under judicial supervision.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who holds a staunch pro-EU position, was re-elected in 2024 amid allegations of electoral irregularities, with opposition groups claiming that key votes came from the country’s diaspora in the EU.
Earlier, Durov made similar claims about French intelligence chief Nicolas Lerner personally asking him to censor conservatives in Romania ahead of the presidential election rerun in May. The businessman said he rejected the request. Paris has vehemently denied the accusations.
Musk voiced his support for the fellow tech entrepreneur at the time as well, by responding to his May remarks with a brief post: “Hear, hear!”
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Telegram’s Durov claims French intelligence tried to blackmail him over Moldovan election
Telegram founder Pavel Durov. © Global Look Press
Writing on X on Sunday, Durov said the approach came about a year ago, while he was under judicial supervision in France following his arrest at a Paris airport. He claimed that intelligence services contacted him through an intermediary and asked Telegram to remove a number of Moldovan channels before a presidential vote.
According to St Petersburg native Durov, Telegram did delete some flagged channels that clearly violated its own policies. But he said the intermediary later relayed a more troubling message: French intelligence had offered to “say good things” to the judge in charge of his case in exchange for wider cooperation.
“This was unacceptable on several levels,” Durov wrote, adding that if the agency did contact the judge, it would amount to interference in the judicial process — and if it didn’t, it meant exploiting his legal jeopardy to influence political developments abroad.
Durov said that shortly afterward, Telegram received a second list of “problematic” Moldovan channels. Unlike the first batch, he insisted, nearly all of these accounts were legitimate and fully compliant with Telegram’s rules.
Their only common trait, he said, was that they voiced political positions disliked by the Moldovan and French governments. “We refused to act on this request,” he wrote.
The allegations come as Moldovans head to the polls in a high-stakes parliamentary election. President Maia Sandu’s pro-EU Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) is facing off against the Patriotic Electoral Bloc (BEP), which campaigns for Moldova’s constitutional neutrality and accuses the government of suppressing dissent.
In recent weeks, election officials barred two opposition parties over alleged foreign funding, adding to a list that already included the banned Victory Bloc and the dissolved SOR Party.
Opposition groups accuse Sandu of tilting the playing field by restricting polling stations in Russia, where hundreds of thousands of Moldovans live, while opening hundreds across the EU — many in small towns. They also point to the closure of dozens of media outlets critical of the government.
Commenting on Durov’s claims, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the revelations confirmed what Moscow had long alleged. “The West operates without conscience on all fronts,” she said.
Durov, who also holds French citizenship in addition to his primary Russian, was arrested in August 2024 and charged with complicity in crimes linked to Telegram users, including extremism and child abuse. He was later released on €5 million bail but placed under judicial supervision. He said the French attempt to link that case to Moldovan politics was “a pattern we have also observed elsewhere, including in Romania.”
Durov insisted Telegram would not comply with political censorship. “Telegram is committed to freedom of speech and will not remove content for political reasons. I will continue to expose every attempt to pressure Telegram into censoring our platform,” he wrote.
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