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Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated on Saturday that he refused a request from French intelligence chief Nicolas Lerner to block Romanian conservative voices on the messaging platform ahead of the country’s presidential runoff election.
Writing on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Durov alleged:
“This spring at the Salon des Batailles in the Hotel 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.”
Earlier in the day, Durov had made a general claim that a Western European government had requested Telegram to "silence conservative voices in Romania," but had not initially named the country or official involved.
The statement comes on the same day Romania held its runoff presidential election, a repeat vote following a Constitutional Court decision that annulled the original result of November 24, 2024. The court had halted the process citing concerns over alleged illegal campaign financing by nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu, cybersecurity threats, and unproven claims of Russian interference.
Durov’s public comments are likely to intensify scrutiny around foreign involvement and digital influence in electoral processes across Europe. Telegram has previously faced pressure from multiple governments to moderate content or block opposition voices, particularly in politically sensitive contexts. However, Durov has consistently positioned the platform as a pro-free speech alternative, emphasizing non-cooperation with political censorship.
Neither the French government nor the Romanian authorities have issued an official response to Durov’s allegations as of the time of reporting.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected as “incorrect” the report by a Kuwaiti newspaper on recent contacts between Tehran and Washington and also condemned President Trump's threats of renewed attacks if Iran resumed nuclear enrichment.
Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Maka Bochorishvili sought to reassure the public that there is “no danger” to Georgia’s status as the European Union’s revised visa rules include Georgia.
Dushanbe enters one of its busiest diplomatic weeks in recent times as it gears up to host the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) heads of state and a Central Asia – Russia meeting. Both events are set to hold from 8 - 12 October in Tajikistan.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev welcomed a Croatian delegation led by Gordan Jandroković, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, marking his first official visit to Azerbaijan.
A new stage of economic transformation is under way in Karakalpakstan, where authorities have announced 27 large-scale projects worth nearly $2 billion with an aim to boost growth in the region.
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