Telegram founder Pavel Durov commented on the accusations made by the US Congress against the European Commission regarding the issue of censorship and freedoms on the Internet.
Durov said in a post on the X platform: "The US Congress revealed that the European Commission has been censoring political opponents for more than a decade, interfering in at least eight elections in six European countries. This is consistent with the French government's attempts to force Telegram to censor free speech in two of those countries."
Durov had stated in a podcast interview with American journalist Lex Friedman that "the head of the French foreign intelligence service asked him to remove unwanted Telegram channels before the presidential elections in Romania, and he mentioned that he received a similar request before the presidential elections in Moldova. An audit conducted by Telegram at the time revealed that several channels had indeed violated the messaging application's rules, so they were removed."
The US House of Representatives yesterday issued a report stating, among other things, that the European Commission interfered in the elections of six countries, and the House accused the European Commission of launching a large-scale electronic surveillance campaign.
The statement added that the European Commission has exerted systematic pressure on digital platforms for ten years, and has also used these methods to interfere in elections in the United States and six European countries.
It is worth noting that French police arrested Russian businessman Pavel Durov, a resident of the UAE, at Le Bourget Airport in Paris on August 24, 2024. French authorities charged him with operating a platform used for illegal transactions. After several days in detention, he was released on bail, and the investigation is ongoing.
Durov had previously criticized the French investigation targeting him, saying it was "finding it difficult to prove any wrongdoing" after his arrest.
