Russian-born Pavel Durov said French intelligence asked him to ban Romanian right-wing comments on the messaging app Telegram he founded ahead of the second round of the Balkan country's presidential election, an accusation the General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) has denied.
Durov, in a social media post late on the evening of May 18, the day of voting in the election that pitted centrist Nikusora Dan against ultranationalist Gheorghe Simion, said that Nicolas Lerner, the head of French intelligence, "asked me to ban conservative votes in Romania ahead of the election." Durov says he refused to do so.
The vote, in which Dan surprisingly won about 54 percent of the ballots, was forced after the first election in November was overturned amid allegations of Russian interference in the campaign largely through social media.
"The DGSE strongly rejects allegations that requests for restraining orders related to any electoral process were made on these occasions," the French intelligence agency said on May 19.
Durov, 40, initially claimed that a "Western European government" had made the request in a post that also included a French baguette emoji.
Durov, who holds citizenship of France as well as Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean archipelago of St. Kitts and Nevis, later published a post directly naming Lerner.
DSGE said in its statement that it had been "obliged on several occasions in recent years" to remind Durov of "his company's firm responsibilities and his personal responsibilities with regard to preventing terrorist threats and threats of child pornography."
Durov made headlines in August last year when he was detained at an airport near Paris.
He was charged on August 28 with several crimes related to alleged illicit activities on the messaging app, but avoided prison after posting $5,5 million bail and was released on the condition that he remain in France and report to a police station twice a week.
French prosecutors have accused him of complicity in allowing drug trafficking and the sharing of sexual images of children on Telegram, and of refusing to share documents requested by authorities investigating illegal activity on the app.
He called the arrest "wrong" even though Telegram took action because it appeared to directly address the issues raised in the case.
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