The Telegram founder has said election meddling can’t be stopped by interfering further in campaigns
Elon Musk has voiced support for fellow tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov after the Telegram founder said he had rejected a request from the French government to block conservative political content on the messaging platform.
Durov said Sunday that a Western European government had asked him to take down Romanian Telegram channels ahead of the country’s presidential runoff. He declined, arguing that, “you can’t ‘fight election interference’ by interfering with elections.” Musk, the majority stake owner of the social media platform X, responded to Durov’s remarks with a brief post: “Hear, hear!”
Following Durov’s statement, French authorities acknowledged they were the subject of the claims but denied making any such request. In a follow-up post, Durov identified the official involved as Nicolas Lerner, director of France’s domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI.
The controversy came as Romanian voters headed to polling stations on Sunday. The Romanian Foreign Ministry accused Russia of interfering in the election, although it offered no supporting evidence.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova remarked that the Romanian process could hardly be described as an election, and urged Bucharest not to soil foreign nations with its mess.
In 2024, Romania’s Constitutional Court overturned the result of a presidential election after right-wing independent Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round. Reports linked the pro-Georgescu social media campaign to a government-affiliated consultancy firm allegedly aiming to divide right-wing voters. The case was cited by US Vice President J.D. Vance in a February speech in Munich as an example of EU nations undermining democratic norms.
On Sunday, pro-EU candidate Nicusor Dan defeated Euroskeptic George Simion in a runoff, securing the Romanian presidency by a single-digit margin.
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