Pavel Durov, fondatore di Telegram, ha diffuso un  messaggio domenica scorsa, proprio mentre si svolgevano le elezioni rumene, per accusare la Francia di aver tentato di inteferire nelle elezioni rumene.

“A Western European government… approached Telegram, asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today’s presidential elections. I flatly refused,” founder Pavel Durov wrote on Telegram.

“Telegram will not restrict the freedoms of Romanian users or block their political channels,” Durov said, adding to his post an emoji of a baguette which might hint at France.

“You can’t ‘defend democracy’ by destroying democracy. You can’t ‘fight election interference’ by interfering with elections. You either have freedom of speech and fair elections — or you don’t. And the Romanian people deserve both,” he said.

In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry described the claims as “completely unfounded” and a “diversionary maneuver from the real threats of interference targeting Romania.”

France’s foreign intelligence service, known as DGSE, has also strongly refuted the claims.

But DGSE acknowledged it had been in contact with Durov “on several occasions” to remind him “of his company’s responsibilities, and his own personal responsibilities, in terms of preventing terrorist and child pornography threats.”