Romanian conservative and Eurosceptic candidate George Simion on Sunday, lost the contested presidential runoff to pro-European leftist Nicusor Dan. The day before the election, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov revealed that Nicolas Lerner, head of French intelligence, had asked him to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of the election, a request Durov refused.
Dan, a pro-European leftist and the mayor of Bucharest won with 54% of the vote, while Simion secured 46%.
With alleged nudging from European Union officials, Romania's Central Electoral Bureau on March 9, barred leading populist candidate Călin Georgescu from running in the Sunday's presidential election re-run, citing bogus violations of election rules and allegations of Russian interference in his favor. The decision sparked protests nationwide and raised concerns that European Union leaders were trying to influence the outcome of the election against the people's will, and in favor of Dan.
Durov posted on his Telegram channel and X that he had been approached by Lerner, head of the French Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), to censor conservative voices in Romania.
The meeting allegedly took place at the Salon des Batailles in the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. Durov stated, "This spring at the Salon des Batailles in the Hôtel de Crillon, Nicolas Lerner, head of French intelligence, asked me to ban conservative voices in Romania ahead of elections. I refused."
Durov emphasized Telegram's commitment to free speech, noting that the platform had not blocked protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran and would not start doing so in Europe.
The French foreign ministry and the DGSE denied the allegations, stating that any meetings with Durov were focused on combating terrorist propaganda and child pornography, not electoral interference.
The ministry posted on X, "Completely unfounded allegations are circulating on Telegram and X regarding alleged French interference in the Romanian presidential election. France categorically rejects these allegations and calls on everyone to exercise responsibility and respect for Romanian democracy."
Responding to the denials, Durov wrote on X, "French foreign intelligence confirmed they met with me — allegedly to fight terrorism and child porn. In reality, child porn was never even mentioned. They did want IPs of terror suspects in France, but their main focus was always geopolitics: Romania, Moldova, Ukraine.
"Since 2018, Telegram has fought child abuse in many ways: content fingerprint bans, dedicated moderation teams, NGO hotlines, and daily transparency reports on banned content — all verifiable. Falsely implying Telegram did nothing to remove child porn is a manipulation tactic."
EU leaders, panicked by the rise of populist and nationalist parties amid the migration crisis, rising living costs, and the war in Ukraine, have been accused of interfering with recent elections in Poland and Romania, with financial backing from globalist billionaire Alexandra Soros. They saw the election in Romania as a test of EU unity.
