On the day of the parliamentary elections in Moldova, Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated that a year ago, the French intelligence services tried to force him to censor 'problematic' Telegram channels on the eve of the presidential elections in Moldova.
'The intermediary then informed me that in exchange for this cooperation, the French intelligence would "give good reviews" about me to the judge who issued the warrant for my arrest in August of last year,' claims Durov.
He reported that after checking, Telegram identified several channels that clearly violated our rules and removed them. However, then, according to him, the messenger team was provided with a second list, in which almost all channels 'were legitimate and fully complied with our rules,' but 'expressed political positions unfavorable to the French and Moldovan governments.' Durov stated that he refused to comply with this request.
Durov's statement largely repeats the narratives spread by channels that the authorities consider a disinformation network, funded by the Kremlin.
In August of last year, it became known that Pavel Durov had visited Russia more than 50 times after his emigration. He was in the Russian Federation on the day when Roskomnadzor announced that it would stop blocking Telegram.
Despite Durov's repeated statements that the messenger does not delete channels for 'political reasons,' in September 2021, Telegram blocked the 'Smart Voting' bot of the Navalny team*.
* Included in the list of 'terrorists and extremists'.