US envoy backs Telegram’s Durov amid Romania election interference claims

Richard Grenell, the special envoy of US President Donald Trump, has expressed support for Pavel Durov, co-founder of the messaging app Telegram, following Durov’s allegations of French interference in Romania’s presidential elections.

Grenell made the statement on X, accompanying it with a repost of Durov’s message calling for the removal of conservative Romanian channels from the platform, Caliber.Az reports.

“And thank you, Pavel. Your courage is inspiring,” Grenell said.

Earlier, Durov had publicly accused France's foreign intelligence agency, DGSE, of attempting to influence Romania's presidential election by pressuring him to suppress conservative voices on the platform. 

Durov claims that during his judicial supervision in France for alleged organized crime activities on Telegram, he was approached by DGSE chief Nicolas Lerner with a request to block Romanian conservative channels. He asserts that he refused, emphasizing Telegram's commitment to free speech, citing its previous refusals to censor protesters in Russia, Belarus, and Iran.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied these allegations, stating that France has never interfered in Romania's electoral process and calling for respect for Romanian democracy. The controversy gained further attention when Elon Musk, who has faced scrutiny in France over potential algorithmic bias on X, reposted Durov's claims, drawing additional scrutiny to the issue.

This development follows Romania's annulment of its 2024 presidential election results due to alleged Russian interference. The Kremlin had criticized the election as "strange," alleging that pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu was unfairly disqualified. The European Union had also opened a formal investigation into TikTok over "serious indications" of foreign interference in the election.

In the rerun election, centrist candidate Nicușor Dan won the presidency, defeating hard-right nationalist George Simion. Dan's victory was welcomed by EU leaders and financial markets as a reaffirmation of Romania's commitment to democratic values and European integration.

Notably, on August 24, 2024, Durov was arrested in France at Le Bourget airport. French authorities charged him with complicity in operating an online platform linked to child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking, fraud, and money laundering. The arrest followed an investigation by Paris’s cybercrime unit, JUNALCO, citing Telegram’s alleged lack of cooperation with law enforcement.

The case has ignited international debate over free speech versus platform responsibility, with criticism from figures like Elon Musk and Russian officials, who claim the move is politically motivated. French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the arrest is a judicial, not political, matter.

By Aghakazim Guliyev