Telegram’s founder believes more meddling isn’t the solution to stopping election interference.
Elon Musk has publicly supported Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, after Durov stated he refused a request from the French government to block certain conservative political content on his platform.
Durov announced on Sunday that a Western European government requested the removal of Romanian Telegram channels before the country’s presidential runoff. He refused, stating that “you can’t ‘fight election interference’ by interfering with elections.” Musk, who owns a majority stake in X, responded to Durov with a short, “Hear, hear!”
Following Durov’s statement, French authorities admitted they were the government in question but denied making such a request. Durov later identified Nicolas Lerner, the director of France’s domestic intelligence agency (DGSI), as the official involved.
This controversy occurred as Romanians voted on Sunday. The Romanian Foreign Ministry accused Russia of interfering in the election, though no proof was given.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented that the Romanian process was questionable as an election, advising Bucharest not to spread its issues internationally.
In 2024, Romania’s Constitutional Court nullified a presidential election after right-wing independent Calin Georgescu surprisingly won the first round. Reports connected Georgescu’s social media campaign to a consultancy firm linked to the government, allegedly aiming to divide right-wing voters. US Vice President J.D. Vance cited this case in a Munich speech in February as an example of EU nations undermining democratic principles.
On Sunday, pro-EU candidate Nicusor Dan defeated Eurosceptic George Simion in a close runoff, winning the Romanian presidency by a narrow margin.
“`