Telegram CEO Reveals Efforts To Silence Romanian Voices On Its Platform

JAKARTA - Telegram founders revealed that governments from a country are trying to silence conservative voices in Romania. This effort was made ahead of the second round of elections.

Romania again voted on May 18 to elect the latest president. This flare was successfully held after the initial vote was canceled about six months ago. According to the suspicion, this happened due to Russian interference.

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, stated that the Western European government was trying to contact the team at his office. Although not mentioned, according to Reuters, the party trying to silence conservative voices is France.

Durov said that Telegram rejected various silencing attempts. He will not restrict users in Romania in speaking. According to Durov, silencing conservative voices will violate the rules of freedom of speech.

"The Western European government... contacted Telegram, asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania," Durov wrote through his channel. "Telegrams will not restrict the freedom of Romanian users or block their political channels."

Durov also emphasized that silencing Romanian users on social media is trying to destroy democracy. In order to protect the voting rights of Romanians, Teleram will not interfere in election matters, as expected by the government of other countries.

This accusation was immediately responded to by the French Foreign Ministry. In a post on X, previously known as Twitter, the French government said that the accusations of silencing were false and untrue.

"The completely baseless allegations circulated on Telegram and Twitter (X) regarding France's alleged interference in the Romanian presidential election," the French government said. "France firmly rejects these allegations."